Answer to Prayer

Thank you all for praying!

The biggest praise of today is that we received Gambo's Green Card in the mail!!

It came JUST IN TIME!

Dealing with getting this card has been the most frustrating thing over the course of the last almost 6 months (we should have received it a few weeks after arriving home).  Finally we have it!  Though as soon as we finalize the adoption, he becomes a US citizen, and we'll be able to get him a US passport.  But in the meantime, we will be able to travel if we need to.

We decided to award him a medal for becoming a legal permanent resident...

Just kidding!  This is a medal Mark just won for coming in third place out of at least 100 people in a 5K to honor POW's and MIA's.  He is a super fast runner!

Just wanted to post something cute:

Our Growing Boy

Proof of Gambo growing...

These are before and after pictures we took 6.5 months apart.  I love this little jumper, so I'm trying to get as much use out of it that I can.

He was swimming in it when we put it on him in Uganda

Now it barely fits him

I'm so happy he is gaining weight and getting taller!

One Year Ago Today

One Year Ago Today... we got a phone call that changed everything!

One year ago today... we spent all day moving into our new house.  We had been frustrated up until that point as to where God had us going with this whole adoption journey (as you can see from the title of the above pages on this blog, we had been going in all sorts of directions).

But then I noticed a missed call from our Ugandan agency!  I called them back and heard news that I never thought I would hear...

"We have a baby boy for you!"

They had finished their investigation about him, he was paper ready, and needing a family.  And that began our journey to our little Gambo.  I wrote about the day here.

God brought us together that day.  This weird American couple and this sick baby boy were forever changed that day.  Not only did we have the direction that we so needed from God, but we also began a purposeful pursuit after one tiny little boy who became our son.

After that phone call we sat at our computer to get our first glimpse of him.

(The age was a little off, but we figured it out eventually.  Oh, and please excuse our silliness!)

The first picture we saw of our little boy:

As we took in the photos and video, we were hit profoundly that THIS WAS OUR SON.

It's hard to explain the peace (and excitement) we felt after so many difficulties up until this point.

Now one year later... here is our gorgeous baby boy:

Happy, healthy, walking and trying to talk!

Praise the Lord!

Five Months Home Update! (Lots of pics)

A couple of days ago, we recognized Gambo being home 5 MONTHS!!

Look at those gorgeous brown eyes!!

(Note: this may sound confusing because of the last post, about meeting him 6 months ago, but that was when we first MET him.  We spent several weeks in Uganda with him.  Therefore, now I am just updating time spent actually home).

Gambo keeps learning and growing every month.  It's amazing!  He is sounding out more and more words and trying to communicate more.  He already has the phrase "All Done" mastered and uses it for about everything that he does not want to do (as well as indicating that he's all done eating or whatever).  It's so funny to ask him, "Do you want to go potty?"  "All Done!"  Ok....   Ha Ha!  Look at this cheesy face:

We enjoyed little things this month like eating lunch out on our patio.

*It's funny how you get used to things... in this photo it is probably around 91 degrees F in the shade there.  Which felt nice to us... considering it is often over 100 degrees during the day.

*Oh, and since I am the picture-taker in the family, you might see a lot of photos of my handsome husband with Gambo instead of me.  Sorry, just the way it works!

Gambo and I went out to Mark's work for a office picnic, and Gambo got to see where Mark works.

Maybe Mark is getting him ready to follow in his footsteps... here he is pointing out planes to him.

Or maybe I'm teaching him a few things of my own... here he is "cooking" and trying to stir "flour, baking powder, and salt" together in a bowl.

He still enjoys eating his plums.

And he kind of enjoys his baths too (Though he only wants to stand during them).

Music time expanded into Gambo getting trombone lessons from daddy.

(But he still prefers guitars.  He even points out the guitars every Sunday at church!)

OK, time for FIRSTS!!

Gambo experienced his FIRST rainstorm in America.  

There were rainstorms in Uganda, but since we've been home... yeah, it hasn't rained much. (Maybe overnight a few times).

He was maybe a little scared at first.

Then he thought it was kind of cool.

I think he liked the umbrella best!

He had his FIRST mini photo shoot in the mall.  Isn't this adorable?

He got to see the BEACH for the very FIRST time!

He was unsure of the waves.

What does this feel like?

Oh, I'm not sure I like what this feels like.

Walking on sand was a new challenge for him.

But in the end, he loved playing in his little bathtub of water.

And getting sand all over himself!

As a special treat afterwards, he got his FIRST experience at Chick-Fil-A.

He even got to meet the real COW who said hi to him.

The cow disappeared before we got a picture with him, so Gambo enjoyed this sign instead... and kept "mooing" all day long!

*In fact, he hasn't stopped mooing!  Now he thinks that everything makes the sound, "moo"!  ("Gambo, what does a cat say?" "Muuuuhhhhh")

Next, as part of our commitment to attachment, we have been very careful about keeping him close to us when we are out and about, for several months now.  We decided it was time to start the transition to being out of the baby carrier when we went to church.  So Gambo got to sit in church for the FIRST time, without being strapped to us.  

(Of course, we still had to take him back to the "cry room" because he was making noise).  But we are working our way up to getting him ready for the nursery.  

Some people might not understand why we don't put him in the nursery right away, so that we can enjoy church by ourselves.  But it is important to look at it from Gambo's perspective.  A nursery may look a lot like an orphanage.  And we want to encourage attachment to us, not him retreating back into a scared little boy who felt unheard and uncared for in any way. (I'm not saying that nursery workers would not care for him, just that he comes from a very different perspective than a child who has grown up in a loving family all their life)

So, he has yet to spend time in the nursery, but taking it slow is how we have chosen to go about it.

Lastly, our little Ugandan is looking forward to being a US Citizen.  And we are looking forward to it too!

We still have to wait another month before we can apply for a court date, but I will keep you in the loop the moment we get to officially call him a citizen.  This is also a big deal because we will get to officially change him name, and let him take our last name!  He is already ours, so we can't wait for it to be on paper!

PRAYER:
-If you think about us, would you also pray with us to get his green card in the mail soon.  Something so simple should have come a few weeks after we arrived home.  Now, five months later, I have spent some of the longest hours of my life, over the course of multiple phone calls, on the phone with the USCIS (US Citizen and immigration Services) trying to fix THEIR administrative error.

-Pray for strength to accomplish the paperwork needed for the finalization of his adoption in our state.

-Pray for the excess finances required for unexpected post-placement reports needed for finalization, as well as for what is left of our paperwork (I think the Certificate of Citizenship costs over $500!).

-Pray for Gambo's transition to more interaction with people outside the family, like care-givers, nursery workers, play-date friends, etc.  And wisdom for us to know when he's had "too much to handle" that it causes a break in attachment.

Thank you all for joining us on our adoption journey!