Big News.....

We have a referral!!!

Yes, it is a big surprise to us!

We had put everything on hold, we were working hard on getting moved in to our new house, and we weren't expecting anything big to happen anytime soon.

Remember how I said last time that God is ALWAYS ON TIME?  He is!!

Here is what happened a couple of weeks ago:

(From my journal entry on Sept. 18th)

We had exciting news yesterday!  There was plenty planned for the day... our household goods were arriving from overseas.  We were so busy unpacking that I didn't realize I had missed a call from our agency.

Later in the evening, after the movers were gone, I was getting ready to go to a meeting when I got...THE CALL.

It was totally out of the blue, and not who I expected to call.  Our Uganda agency director, who we had left things open with when we lost our first referral at the beginning of this year, said she had information on the little boy from Uganda.

OK--switch gears--let me get Mark on the phone too!

We listened as our director told us his name....(We'll call him Baby Boy for now).  I love it.  She said they had completed the investigation, and he was indeed available for adoption.  She also said they want to place him quickly.

Wow!  We like quick!  After all our time waiting... "quick" sounds pretty good right now!  She said that he is sick right now with a cough, and is not in a place where he can get proper medical care.  It is a very poor part of Kampala.  As she described his symptoms, it didn't sound like anything too serious.
...

Our agency director told us she would send us pictures and more info to look at, and we could get back to her.  I had to leave for my meeting, so I told Mark he was NOT allowed to look at anything while I was gone.  

On the drive there I went back and forth on wanting to think about everything that was about to happen, but at the same time not wanting to think about it because I didn't want to arrive at the meeting in a ball of tears (plus I had mascara on).  I told myself, "Keep your emotions at bay, and think about things when you get home."  Needless to say, the meeting was difficult.

When I arrived home, we opened up the email.  What we saw was tiny Baby Boy, at three months old.  In some pictures, looking sick.  In others, more alive and alert.  There was even video!  We saw him have the cutest yawn. (Melt my heart!)

(I had to share!  Can't show you his face yet, though.)

Seeing his face for the first time, I can't help but still be a little cautious, because Mark and I have been through our fair share of heartbreak.  But there is something inside me that is saying...

HE IS OUR SON!

I am trying to get a grip on God's timing of this all.  We had just decided to put the DRC adoption on hold.  We were seriously considering starting the domestic adoption process.  I researched many agencies, but we had been prevented from taking any steps until we moved into our house.  We waiting to move forward until we had the house things taken care of, until our shipment arrived.  We didn't want to schedule a home study visit when our home had nothing in it!

So the day arrives to get our things--yesterday.  I was actually ready to submit some applications just yesterday, as soon as we received our things.

God placed that phone call JUST IN TIME.

There couldn't have been a more perfect time to hear about Baby Boy.  Too early, and we wouldn't have our stuff and wouldn't be ready to make any decisions.  Too late, and we would have already applied elsewhere and probably already sent in some fees.  

I have no idea of what the timing of Baby Boy's adoption will look like, but it's perfect timing that our immigration paperwork is still good for Uganda!  Really, all we need to re-work is our home study and dossier.

Baby Boy home by Christmas?.... That would be a miracle!

(OK, I had a little fun with this one!)

Things that went through my head: "I might be a mom in a couple of months!  Yikes!"  I thought about all the wonderful people who have prayed for us along the way and stood with us--"Oh, how excited they will be!"  I thought about all that needs to get done in the next couple of months.  And I thought about Baby Boy, waiting.

I felt peace when I prayed about adopting him.  I felt like, "How could we say no to him?  He needs a family.  He needs care.  We have a huge house and lots of love to give.  How can we ignore his needs?"  Mark said, "I can't think of ANY reason why we shouldn't adopt him!"  How can we know his situation and leave him like that?  Then how can we still claim that we are loving our "neighbor"?  Baby Boy is my "neighbor."  And I pray one day he will be my brother in Christ.

I thought about how this is not about us.  It's not about the Struska's gaining a new member of the household.  It's about God being glorified, and about meeting the needs of a little baby boy, that He has placed in our lives.  This is really what testifies to God... God takes us, a weird American couple, and brings us together with a little baby boy half-way across the world in Uganda, a baby boy that He has sovereignly been watching over!  

He binds strangers together.  He takes our weaknesses and shows His strength in us.  He enables us to love a child that we did not give birth to, who doesn't look like us, who comes from such a different culture.  This is how it is meant to be.  This is parenting.  Laying down my selfishness for the sake of loving another, my child.  I pray that I become less, and Christ becomes more in me!

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So that is how we found out about our little surprise.  Baby Boy is now about 6 months old.  Our agency was in Uganda last week and they are happy to report that he is all better now.  He is no longer sick and looks healthy.  We hope to be receiving updated photos of him in the next couple of weeks.

The amazing thing is that God has given us so much grace in one the most tedious processes... paperwork!  We have TONS of paperwork to do, but things are moving along quickly and easily.  I don't want to say that too soon, because I know we will hit a big snag, like, tomorrow!  But for all the extra time it took to do paperwork while living overseas, I feel like this process is so much different.

When I think about all the obstacles we had trying to adopt while living overseas, somehow it seems to make sense now, knowing that we just had to wait until our Baby Boy was born and ready for us!

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I know this post is very long, so I will leave you will some prayer points:
    
    -Pray for Baby Boy.  Pray for his health, for his safety, for his heart to be ready to love us and accept us.
    
    -Pray for us.  Pray that our hearts would be ready to love and accept him.
    
    -Pray for our paperwork to move quickly.
    
    -Pray for our marriage, that we would have love a patience with each other as we have very stressful days.
    
    -Pray for our home study agency and our adoption agency that they would make wise decisions, efficient decisions, and be free from corruption or compromise.
    
    -Pray for the Ugandan officials who will be judging our case, that we would have a judge who is favorable towards international adoption.

Thank you all so much for  your prayer and support!!!