A Change in the Journey

Hello, faithful readers!  Maybe some of you are family and friends?  Maybe some of you have adopted from Uganda as well?  Maybe some of you were wanting to adopt from Uganda, and like us, found Uganda closing it's doors, or at least making it very difficult for international adoption at this point?  Yes, that is us!

So we decided to switch gears.  We still feel a desire to grow our family through adoption, and the international adoption route has not been easy.  We felt now was the time to start pursuing domestic adoption again.  We hope to give love and a home to a new baby, a new baby who we know will fit right in with our crazy family!

Today we took the leap of faith and began the next phase as a waiting family, hoping for a match with a sweet expectant mother.  We are excited and nervous for this part of our journey, but we know it will be worth it.  We still have lots of paperwork to do, like a new homestudy and creating a profile book, so we don't know how long this process will take.

Thanks for sticking with us, and we still covet your prayers!  This will not be an easy journey from here on out.  There may still be complications, bumps in the road, and potential heartbreak, so we need your prayers for strength!  Only God knows that plan that He has laid out for us.  He is working something amazing!

In Case You're Wondering...

I wrote this update over a month ago, but never published it, as I was hoping for an answer to give you all, but I decided that now is the time to share how our adoption journey has gone so far:

*4-15-16
Okay... Where to start?  It's been a while, and the road has both been bumpy, uneventful, and also almost completely blocked.

It's been almost a year since our Dossier was sent off to Uganda, filled with hope and excitement for a quick match.  As is the case in developing countries, there were issues that needed to be resolved and delays.

Last fall we felt close to finally receiving a long-awaited referral and began discussing a sibling more in-depth with Gambo.  He seemed just as excited as we were and talked often about things he would do with his brother  or sister.  Finally the day came!  An email with information on a little girl.  We cautiously and excitedly read about this girl who was waiting for a forever family, looking for "signs" that she would be our new daughter, while being careful to evaluate everything and seek God's will for our family.  We spent the next week going back and forth over the information, while we sought advice, wise counsel, and I secretly started dreaming and planning for her.  Yet, something was letting me hold back from fully going all in.

We asked for clarification about some of the paperwork as some of the details were confusing.  When we finally got the answers to our questions, we saw very clearly that it would not be possible for us to adopt this little girl and we had to pass on her referral to another family.  It was sad, but at the same time we felt so at peace with the decision.  We had done everything possible to be well-informed and ready, and the door closed for us.  We took and deep breath and held on, confident that another referral would be coming soon.

Enter the beginning of this year, another possible referral was at hand, but this time, with joy and after thorough investigation, we saw this other child reunited with his relatives.  Bittersweet.

We knew the road was going to be bumpy, but we weren't fully prepared for the shock that awaited us at the beginning of March.

Some of you may have heard in the news what has happened in Uganda.  There has been legislation proposed in the form of a the Child's Act Amendment to help protect the rights of Uganda's children from exploitation.  The Act has been circulating Uganda for many years with no movement.  This year there has been some rewriting of the bill, so that it was actually proposed before parliament and voted on... and passed.  This is wonderful news for the rights of children in Uganda, but also comes at the cost of significantly decreasing the possibility for international adoptions to occur--- which can also be not-so-good news for children with no family who are waiting and waiting, where international adoption is their only hope for a family.  You can read more about what the bill means at A Child's Voice here.

This Amendment has been passed by parliament, but must be signed by the president of Uganda to become law.  He still has not signed it.

What does this mean for us?
From what I've gathered the new act seems like it would require residency in Uganda for at least a year, and approval from a governing board before being able to adopt internationally.  This would make it impossible for us (and many other families as well).

It seems we may have come to the end of our road to Ugandan adoption.

We are still waiting on official word that it has been signed into law, so I even hesitate to post this, but it is looking more likely that it will happen.  At any rate, it seems difficult to imagine our family completing an adoption in Uganda before we move this summer.  (Oh, by the way, we are moving again)

Where do we go from here?

We ask for your prayers for our next step.  During this next phase of life, we are going to be in a difficult position to be able to pursue an international adoption.  We are looking at other avenues, as we do still hope and pray to add to our family and include a sibling for Gambo who looks like him.  This is important to us for him to not feel alone as he grows up.

We love Uganda, and it will always hold a place in our family.  We hope that someday Uganda will open up clear and ethical opportunities for foreigners to adopt internationally, but we do not know when that will happen.

Our bumps and road blocks mean God is still moving and directing us to what He has next for us, and toward what will be for our good.  We keep trusting him, yielding to His timing and His plan.

*5/25/16
UPDATE:
It looks like the President has now signed it into law.  We had a brief thought that there might be a step toward another referral, but it looks like this is finally our answer.  God has other plans for us.

This door has closed.

Yet God is good!  He knows what will come, and we can trust Him.

My Aching Heart

Today my heart was turned toward Uganda. I was outside in the early morning, watching the sun rise and the clouds turn pink... Hearing the cicadas and insects chirp... Feeling the humidity and heat... It made me imagine being in Uganda again-- and my soul longed to go back.

It actually made my heart ache.

I thought about this little child who may become my daughter or son. I thought about her/him waiting there-- hoping for a Mom and a Dad. I thought about her/him waking up to the same sounds I was experiencing-- and then having a hungry belly.

I want to go to her/him. I want her/him to find and have a family. And I want that for the other children there too.

And I long for truth and ethics and cases being clear and above board. I pray, " God, you know how much I want this. But I want your will to be done. And I want it to be ethical. Please don't let us adopt a child that should have stayed in Uganda because they truly have family to care for them."

I really don't know where the Lord will lead us eventually. I long for Uganda, but it may not be there. He knows.

I pray also for news, information, some form of update. SOON.

I still pray we can travel before the end of the year. As the weeks go by, it's hard to not doubt that possibility. There is still enough that needs to happen before traveling that it seems crazy to travel by then since we don't even have a referral yet.

I trust God. He knows what He is doing in Uganda. I pray all the time that He is watching over our future child, comforting them, giving them hope, showing them love, protecting them. He is able to place the lonely in families. He is able to move paperwork along. And He is sovereign to choose the exact timing of it all, and can prepare everything to happen in His timing. Lord, help me trust you more.

Comfort my aching heart.

P.S. I know I haven't posted in a while. There is not much to share. Our Dossier is in Uganda, but we are in the phase of just waiting for a referral or a child. We've had some indication that things are moving, but still not the news we long to hear yet. This is a tough phase!

Big Praises!

Hmm... I am due for an update!

We were in the waiting phase... waiting on our USCIS pre-approval.  It was the final piece to a completed Dossier to send to Uganda.  We left it in God's hands, and I didn't stress over it.  

A couple of weeks ago I got a phone call in the middle of the night.  Usually this means it is not important.  When I answered it sounded a like a sales pitch or someone trying to fish for information.  They were asking for my address.  Immediately wary, I asked again who was calling and soon realized it was United States Citizen and Immigration Services!  It was the middle of the day where they are, so of course, they are not really considering the time difference.

Come to find out, our application had been approved, but it was sent back to them in the mail.  They were not able to send it to our unique address, so they were asking for another address to send it to.  I was able to have them send it to our agency and told them I was very glad to hear that we had been approved (turns out we were approved several weeks prior too, and just didn't know it).  Yeah!!

Now I can breathe a sigh of relief over finishing this step of the paperwork process.  Our Dossier is complete and is.... HEADED TO UGANDA THIS WEEK!!

I am hopeful that we are getting closer to information about an addition to our family!  I am trying not to get my hopes up, so to speak, that this will happen anytime soon.  I know how things move at a different pace in Uganda.  And I want to make sure that whatever child(ren) join our family are ones that really DO need a family.

Another PRAISE is that just as we are needing to send in our next set of adoption fees (a large sum), we received our tax return with almost the EXACT amount that we need to send in!  The timing was perfect.  God provided!

And so next we wait.... and wait...  which brings me to some verses that have been in my head recently,

"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I hope; 

my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning." -Psalm 130:5-6

Yes, my hope is in the Lord.  He is working in our adoption.  He is working in our hearts as we wait.  Our waiting isn't just waiting... it's waiting UNTO HIM.  It's leaning into Him and asking for the timing that brings the MOST glory to His name.  The situation, the child, the process -- that results in God getting the most glory.  

That is the struggle: to empty ourselves, to realize that it is not about US, and to believe that it is all about HIM.

So, bring on the waiting!  May HE get the glory!!

Application Acceptance!

Thank You!  Praise the Lord!

We received an acceptance receipt in the mail yesterday!  It looks like they will process our application despite having the "expired" application form.  We don't have our immigration APPROVAL yet, but hopefully that will come in the next 1-2 months.

I forgot what else I was going to write about, so I will just leave you with this cool music video shot in Kampala, Uganda:

Getting Immigration Approval (hopefully)...

Okay, my prayer warriors, here's an update so far.  

Our agency sent an email to USCIS asking if they would accept our application.  The response wasn't "Yes, of course!"  This is what the USCIS officer said:

If it was received, receipted and not returned to them as rejected, then it has been accepted and will be processed.  If it is returned to them as rejected because it is an outdated form then they will need to refile on the new form.

Okayyyyyy.... so very clear. 

But we DID get a case number in an email notification from the USCIS receiving facility!  Does that mean it was accepted?  I don't know.  We have to wait to see if we get an acceptance receipt in the mail, which might take at least another week.  OR, we may get mail at that time that our application was rejected.

I've tried checking the status of our case on their website, and it tells me that my case number is "invalid."  I am not sure if the website is just having problems or if our application really was rejected.

So, we will keep looking for some news in our mailbox.  

If you can imagine our paperwork craziness right now... 

Not only have we been gathering and preparing for our Homestudy, 

BUT we have also been doing the paperwork for our Dossier, 

AND we have also been doing paperwork for a Certificate of Citizenship (for Gambo), 

AND we have also been doing paperwork for a Post-placement report (for Gambo)

...ALL at the SAME TIME!

It's tough to keep straight!  Thank goodness for my filing systems, and excel spreadsheets, and google email labels.

All that's left is to leave you with a cute photo of me and my little man!

Just Arrived!

Praise!  Our Homestudy is done!!!

Today we got an email that our homestudy arrived at our agency!  Thank you all for praying.  It was held up by a snowstorm in the states.  When you can't get into to the office, there is just nothing you can do.  

I forget all about snow since we don't experience it on a daily basis for our winters on this island.

Now our Dossier is complete except for our immigration pre-approval, called a I-600a.  And today our I-600a application was finally sent with our homestudy included!

Big item for prayer: There is a chance that even though we completed our I-600a application a while ago, since it wasn't sent until today, it will not get there by Monday.  And on Monday, I just discovered, USCIS (US Citizen and Immigration Services) will no longer accept the version of application that we had filled out.  Ugh!  So, it will probably mean more delays as we will have to fill out a whole new application.  Maybe for some odd reason they will accept it.  You could pray for that, or just pray that we will accept this extra step with grace and patience.

The hardest thing in this adoption process is the delays that seem "avoidable."  Every delay means a child is waiting just that much longer.  But we had no control over a snowstorm that delayed our homestudy arriving earlier in the week.  And we know that ultimately God is in control!  He has this child (or children) in His hands.  He is able to protect and care for them, even in "delays."  His timing is perfect.

If there is something that He taught us though our first adoption, it is that very concept.  It was over three years before we held our cute little Gambo in our arms.  

If things had moved along "faster," than we wouldn't have him in our lives.  He wasn't even born yet back then.  And we would have even been looking in the wrong place for him.  So, it took until just the right time to connect us with our little man.  I am so thankful for that connection!

So we pray for another wonderful connection with the next child(ren) to join our family.  Thanks for all your support for us during this long process!