Wow... it's been almost 8 months since I updated. Which I knew, of course... I just wasn't ready to update yet.
First, life got in the way. Moving to a new country, a new culture, a new home, trying to find new friends, a new church, new grocery stores... it takes a lot of time to feel fully settled. So, updating the blog went on the back burner.
Our life has been far from boring! The past several months have been filled with adventures, new firsts, growth spurts, and new skills learned.
OK, let's get the Big News out of the way before I start updating you on other things... it's what you really want to know anyway.
We are going to be adopting from Uganda again, since we have grown to know and love that beautiful country. And we are excited for Gambo to have something in common with his siblings. Not just having another sibling with the same skin color as him (which helps a bunch), but also one from the country where he was born.
Now for the details:
1. Where are we? We are in the beginning stages of starting this adoption. However, we have already completed some paperwork.
*Okay, time to be real... We were so excited to begin this journey again, as God laid it on our hearts, but we were not ready to share it with the world since we didn't have any sort of timeline to when things would happen. We went through a LONG wait to bring home our first little one from Uganda, and we may be in for more of the same, but we really don't know.
So, my thoughts were, Why put everyone though that? Why tell them we are adopting just to have them wait for 3 years and keep asking questions like "Any News?" over and over for 3 years? Why set them up for potential matches and then have them fall through? It's painful. It's embarrassing. It's difficult to talk about. It's uncomfortable. I don't want to do it again. See, I really was thinking aboutme all of you!
But then I realized that YOU guys were my support. YOU guys were my prayer partners. YOU guys were my kingdom fighters. And it's lonely to do it on my own. Yes, it is hard to face challenges that I am not sure I am ready for, but wouldn't I rather do it with YOU by my side? Yes!
Okay, back to... paperwork. We began a homestudy, got background checks, filled out questionnaires, and turned everything in. We even collected and turned in all paperwork for the Dossier for Uganda. We are now waiting on a finalized homestudy. We need this last piece of the puzzle to add to our Dossier, and to apply for US immigration approval.
We honestly wanted to wait until we had word that it was officially complete before letting you all know. Again, it was fear. So, here I am, letting you all know that it is NOT complete, and I need your prayers. It is out of our hands. There is nothing we can do. I am not sure why it is taking so long just to finalize, but there could be a number of factors-- people being out of the office, files being lost in email-land, wrong updated versions, miscommunication, no communication, who knows?
So, as I questioned out loud, "Where is our homestudy? Where is our homestudy?" when I checked my email for the 100th time before 9am, I realized I was saying this in front of my 3-year-old. I was setting an example of worry and anxiousness. Immediately Phil 4:6 came to mind:
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."
2. Children. We are applying to adopt 1-2 children, either gender, up to 4 years old by the time of placement. We need to stay in birth order, so we have a small age bracket that will work for our family. We are open to siblings, twins, or a single child. We know there are many children waiting for a family at the baby home in Uganda, but many of them are just a bit older than our age range, or are making plans for reunification with family (not adoptable). So, we trust that God has a hand in which child(ren) will join our family, and we will need to wait for a referral from our agency.
3. Timeline. We wish we knew! Ha ha! We are hoping for completed Homestudy soon, another 1.5-2 months waiting on immigration approval, dossier transmission to Uganda sometime in the Spring. If we receive a referral this summer, maybe we can apply for a court date and end up traveling by fall or at least by the end of the year. ONLY a guess. -->Here's how it probably will go down... rush to complete paperwork... Bump in the road... wait several months... rush to complete paperwork... Bump in the road... wait several more months... More bumps... skies finally part... several months or a couple to years later we travel to Uganda! (Or have to switch to a different country, who knows!).
*THE PLAN is to follow God's will wherever He leads us.
*THE HOPE is that another child who needs a family would bless us to come home to be with us.
*THE HOW is up to God.
4. What does Gambo think? He is excited. We have been talking to him about a brother or sister for quite a while, and he likes the idea. He would be GREAT with a sibling! He sometimes talks about things that he would like to do with a sibling, but sometimes says he doesn't want to share his room (or his Mama) with a sibling. He is a Mama's Boy! We also talk a lot about going back to Uganda, and he is very excited for that. He is looking forward to seeing his primary caregiver at the baby home, who we have continued to talk about and share about with him since coming home, because she was a big part of his life. We talk about things we are looking forward to doing... riding Boda Boda's, eating Chapati and rice and beans, etc. We loved Uganda, so we talk about it a lot. And it is important for him to have a positive view of his home country.
5. How does that work living in Japan? We are still figuring all of this out. We found a wonderful homestudy agency who will work with us here (they do home studies for other families here quite often). We will gather information on how to bring the child(ren) into Japan, and also when to stop off in the U.S. to get the US immigration paperwork started. Some things take extra time to receive in the mail, and sometimes we have to attach cover-letters to explain our situation, but otherwise, it should work just fine.
P.S. I really kind of ran out of space to do a full update, so I will leave you with just a few recent pictures from our snowboarding trip to Niseko, Japan.
First, life got in the way. Moving to a new country, a new culture, a new home, trying to find new friends, a new church, new grocery stores... it takes a lot of time to feel fully settled. So, updating the blog went on the back burner.
Our life has been far from boring! The past several months have been filled with adventures, new firsts, growth spurts, and new skills learned.
OK, let's get the Big News out of the way before I start updating you on other things... it's what you really want to know anyway.
Our little Gambo has something he would like to announce....
YES! He is going to be a big brother! Not by pregnancy, but through Adoption!
We are adopting again!!
We are going to be adopting from Uganda again, since we have grown to know and love that beautiful country. And we are excited for Gambo to have something in common with his siblings. Not just having another sibling with the same skin color as him (which helps a bunch), but also one from the country where he was born.
Now for the details:
1. Where are we? We are in the beginning stages of starting this adoption. However, we have already completed some paperwork.
*Okay, time to be real... We were so excited to begin this journey again, as God laid it on our hearts, but we were not ready to share it with the world since we didn't have any sort of timeline to when things would happen. We went through a LONG wait to bring home our first little one from Uganda, and we may be in for more of the same, but we really don't know.
So, my thoughts were, Why put everyone though that? Why tell them we are adopting just to have them wait for 3 years and keep asking questions like "Any News?" over and over for 3 years? Why set them up for potential matches and then have them fall through? It's painful. It's embarrassing. It's difficult to talk about. It's uncomfortable. I don't want to do it again. See, I really was thinking about
But then I realized that YOU guys were my support. YOU guys were my prayer partners. YOU guys were my kingdom fighters. And it's lonely to do it on my own. Yes, it is hard to face challenges that I am not sure I am ready for, but wouldn't I rather do it with YOU by my side? Yes!
Okay, back to... paperwork. We began a homestudy, got background checks, filled out questionnaires, and turned everything in. We even collected and turned in all paperwork for the Dossier for Uganda. We are now waiting on a finalized homestudy. We need this last piece of the puzzle to add to our Dossier, and to apply for US immigration approval.
We honestly wanted to wait until we had word that it was officially complete before letting you all know. Again, it was fear. So, here I am, letting you all know that it is NOT complete, and I need your prayers. It is out of our hands. There is nothing we can do. I am not sure why it is taking so long just to finalize, but there could be a number of factors-- people being out of the office, files being lost in email-land, wrong updated versions, miscommunication, no communication, who knows?
So, as I questioned out loud, "Where is our homestudy? Where is our homestudy?" when I checked my email for the 100th time before 9am, I realized I was saying this in front of my 3-year-old. I was setting an example of worry and anxiousness. Immediately Phil 4:6 came to mind:
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."
Oh...yeah... So my son and I stopped and prayed right away together that our homestudy would come soon. Oh, it feels so good to take it to God in prayer! So, I ask that you pray with me! And pray also for my peace, that I would not worry or be anxious.
2. Children. We are applying to adopt 1-2 children, either gender, up to 4 years old by the time of placement. We need to stay in birth order, so we have a small age bracket that will work for our family. We are open to siblings, twins, or a single child. We know there are many children waiting for a family at the baby home in Uganda, but many of them are just a bit older than our age range, or are making plans for reunification with family (not adoptable). So, we trust that God has a hand in which child(ren) will join our family, and we will need to wait for a referral from our agency.
3. Timeline. We wish we knew! Ha ha! We are hoping for completed Homestudy soon, another 1.5-2 months waiting on immigration approval, dossier transmission to Uganda sometime in the Spring. If we receive a referral this summer, maybe we can apply for a court date and end up traveling by fall or at least by the end of the year. ONLY a guess. -->Here's how it probably will go down... rush to complete paperwork... Bump in the road... wait several months... rush to complete paperwork... Bump in the road... wait several more months... More bumps... skies finally part... several months or a couple to years later we travel to Uganda! (Or have to switch to a different country, who knows!).
*THE PLAN is to follow God's will wherever He leads us.
*THE HOPE is that another child who needs a family would bless us to come home to be with us.
*THE HOW is up to God.
4. What does Gambo think? He is excited. We have been talking to him about a brother or sister for quite a while, and he likes the idea. He would be GREAT with a sibling! He sometimes talks about things that he would like to do with a sibling, but sometimes says he doesn't want to share his room (or his Mama) with a sibling. He is a Mama's Boy! We also talk a lot about going back to Uganda, and he is very excited for that. He is looking forward to seeing his primary caregiver at the baby home, who we have continued to talk about and share about with him since coming home, because she was a big part of his life. We talk about things we are looking forward to doing... riding Boda Boda's, eating Chapati and rice and beans, etc. We loved Uganda, so we talk about it a lot. And it is important for him to have a positive view of his home country.
5. How does that work living in Japan? We are still figuring all of this out. We found a wonderful homestudy agency who will work with us here (they do home studies for other families here quite often). We will gather information on how to bring the child(ren) into Japan, and also when to stop off in the U.S. to get the US immigration paperwork started. Some things take extra time to receive in the mail, and sometimes we have to attach cover-letters to explain our situation, but otherwise, it should work just fine.
MOST OF ALL, we welcome your enthusiasm and support for what we are embarking on... our next "Journey of Adoption."
P.S. I really kind of ran out of space to do a full update, so I will leave you with just a few recent pictures from our snowboarding trip to Niseko, Japan.
3-year-old on a snowboard!
Learning tips from daddy
Sipping hot cocoa with mommy
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