We arrived in Uganda safe and sound!

Our last flight from Dubai to Entebbe was 5 hours…that's nothing after 14 hours on a plane and then 12 hours sitting in an airport!  The time went by quickly which I am so thankful for.  The anticipation to meet our sweet boy was so real!  I watched a movie on the flight and later Jeff asked which movie I watched, i could not remember for the life of me.  My mind was on Drew the whole time!
We landed and felt the heat and humidity right away…it felt good to not be cold for once in the past 4 months!  I love Portland but this heat feels so good on my old weary bones:)

Once inside the terminal, the smell of Uganda overcame my senses!

I told Andie how much I love the people, the culture and the beautiful scenery.  It has been 5 years since I have been here and it feels so familiar to me and gives me a sense of being home.

It took us an hour to get our visa, grab our luggage and then go change in the bathroom.  We REALLY needed to freshen up and change our clothes after 2 days of traveling.  We thought we would be able to shower in the Dubai airport but that didn't work out.  So stinky and tired we rolled into Uganda.

We made it through the front doors and into a sea of Ugandans all looking at us waving signs or calling out.  Jeff and I had our eyes open looking to and fro for a sign from our babies home with our name on it.  We wandered out the door and Jeff found the Director of our Babies home. 

We pushed our carts with 10 checked bags and 6 carry on bags to our van (we did not travel light),  Thankfully, ALOT of this stuff we will leave here.

Then we were off!  We had an hour drive through Entebbe and into Kampala.  The kids tried so hard to stay awake and enjoy the scenery and the Ugandan way of life but before long they had all passed out.  Meanwhile, Jeff and I got to ask lots of questions about our babies home and of course, gather any and all information about Drew that we could.

Before long, we turned onto a road with a big sign with our babies home on it!  I couldn't believe it was here…AFTER TWO LONG YEARS!  The time was

So many thoughts running through my mind…
Will he be shy or afraid of us?
Will he cry and not want us to hold him?
How will I respond to him?
How will the kids react?

I could go on and on.

We turned into the driveway and I didn't care HOW it went or if we had the camera ready or if we got it on video…it didn't matter.  I just wanted to see my son!

Made it to Dubai!

We boarded the plane in Portland and made a quick stop over in Seattle! We had time to grab some lunch, find our gate and then track down a Starbucks for a treat before we boarded our plane to Dubai.

The kids were in heaven on our plane! They have never really flown before so this huge plane with all the movies, games and music they could dream of was very fun! They were giddy as they discovered all the cool gadgets and turned on a movie as soon as possible!

We ate a few mediocre airplane meals, watched a few movies and TRIED to get a few hours of sleep. I'm not sure how successful we were at the sleep part but we all tried!

I am positive the only 2 people on the plane with a chronic cough sat right behind me and right next to me. I just kept thinking how thankful I was to even be on that plane! Ranger came home Friday from school not feeling well and Saturday he was worse, so we headed to the doctor to see what she said. She believed that he had influenza A and that he should not travel. We tracked down Tamiflu for the whole family (which was not easy...Jeff didn't get home until from the pharmacy until11:30pm that night) and then of course, we called all of our prayer warriors to start praying!

Thankfully, he didn't get any worse and by Sunday morning he had a shower, finished packing his bag and was ready to go. He has felt better and better as they day went on! Now, after 24 hours of flying he is completely back to normal! We are so thankful for your prayers!

We are now in Dubai and we SHOULD be sleeping but we are ALL wide awake! Playing a few rounds of Rummy Cube, having relay races across the airport and eating chocolate treats sent with us from a dear friend!

We land in Entebbe in 13 hours and then make our way through Kampala traffic as we make our way to our son! God is good!

Count down is on...

Ok, we have less than 4 days until we board our plane headed for Uganda!

We will have a quick flight to Seattle and then we'll board a big plane for 15 hours to Dubai AND THEN we will sleep in the airport (we are hoping to find a few comfy benches to crash on). Early that next morning, we will have a 5 hour plane ride to Entebbe then another 2 hour drive . . .

Once we land, pass immigration and get visas we will seek to meet a staff member of our son's babies home. Then we jump in the car and head straight to meet our son!

Can you feel the excitement?

What a privilege it will be to live at the babies home for a short time as we bond and attach to Drew and most importantly, he gets to attach and bond to us!

During our stay, our kiddos will get to "help out" at the home. There are quite a few babies to play with, help feed, give a bath, read books to and run around outside with! They think this will be a fun family vacation but THEY ARE WRONG! They will be loving and serving on these sweet babies while they await their forever families! What a privilege this will be!

It's a miracle!

What do I say...I'm sitting here in bed and there is so much on my mind. It's racing in 50 different directions actually! We received word today that our investigation has been resolved and we need to be in Uganda before our court date on Feb 1st!

Yes, yes, yes...we are so excited!!!

I knew, I just knew that when we got that phone call yesterday the answer was going to be that our case is still delayed with no movement in the foreseen future. I had prepared my heart for that news...probably just to protect it from another devastating blow that our court date would be cancelled and we would not be traveling to go and meet our son and bring him home.

I am pretty good at defending and protecting my heart when needed! But nothing, did you hear me? NOTHING! Can prepare your heart for the journey of adoption! You can read thousands of blogs and talk to wonderful adoptive families and they will openly and genuinely share their stories of triumphs and trials. You listen intently, thinking maybe this will be what your story is like or maybe your child will be like theirs (either to good to be true or a terror of terrors). And so...you prepare yourself as best you know how!

There is a point in the process when you come to realize that you are actually clueless and you have absolutely have no control of anything!! That's a good place to be!

We've gone through 2 years of home studies, fingerprinting, USCIS forms, lots of paperwork and then the waiting list. Exactly 4 months ago, we were matched with the sweetest little boy who had been abandoned by everyone in the world and he desperately needed a family to call his own. We quickly fell in love and have been working hard to be ready emotionally, spiritually and financially over the course of these past months. Then came the devastating news of our trip being cancelled 2 days before we were to board the plane with our 3 kids and our many, many bags of luggage due to a few issues that arose and needed to be investigated!

Thankfully, we have the BEST agency and our Ugandan lawyer is full of integrity and committed to seek and find truth under all circumstances! So, we know that our sweet boy and our family are in good hands as we ALL keep trusting what God is doing and what He will do in the weeks to come!

So now...in 8 days our family of 5 will be boarding a plane heading to Uganda to meet our sweet boy and smooch on those precious little cheeks:-).

As our journey continues, I only have 1 thing to say to our friends, family or other adoptive families who are following our journey. The ONLY thing that is reliable in the midst of this crazy process with all the ups and downs is the One who asked us to step out in faith, trusting His plan for our future and the future of our family. God has been constant and faithful this whole way and I know He's not letting go now and when we board that plane we know the journey REALLY begins!

Come join us... it's going to be an adventure!

Erin

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