Travel Preparations

Adoption is filled with so many ups and downs. You just learn it's part of the "game". We've learned you just have to keep moving forward and trust that God will walk you through it. But sometimes that's easier said than done. I questioned many, many times if our adoption would actually happen and purposely put up my own boundaries so I wouldn't be emotionally hurt if something happened that prevented Mercy from joining our family. But after we turned in all of our paperwork and just had to wait for a court date, we finally decided it was time to prepare a room for her "just in case". The only thing we had to buy was a bed because friends gave us bedding, curtains, a dresser, and some hand-me-down clothes. Of course, I did have fun buying a few accessories to complete her room. It all came together pretty quickly...

My first try at chalk art - pretty fun!

These are some of Mercy's friends from the babies home.
They are all either in forever families or soon will be! :-D

On January 14, 2016 we found out some exciting news! We had a court date on February 2nd!!! We had to make plans quickly to leave for Uganda on January 25th so we could arrive a little early and have some bonding time with Mercy before court. The "typical" stay in Uganda to adopt seemed to be about 3-4 months so we had to buy a ton of snacks and Pull-Ups to take with us. Fortunately, we had several friends give us bug repellant and sunscreen so we didn't have to purchase that ourselves.

The Sunday before we left, our pastor called us up on stage and and our church family prayed for us. That meant so much to us because we knew we would be covered in prayer while we were gone. Honestly I felt like it was the only way we'd survive because I knew we couldn't make it on our own strength.

Then on January 25th, we found ourselves at the airport saying "see you later" to Steve's family and some of our closest friends. It was pretty hard on us because there were so many unknowns in the months ahead. We had no idea how long we'd be gone, if we'd be safe and healthy, and if the adoption would even actually happen. But what we did know was that God had our back and that friends back home would be praying for us.

Here's a few pics at the Tulsa Airport and our journey to Uganda...

Arrival at Entebbe, Uganda! We are tired and a bit delirious but we made it!