Thursday, June 30, 2016

Week 8

Day 50: Wednesday, March 16, 2016 - 6pm: What a day! This morning our friend, Harriet Onyinge, put hair extensions in Mercy's hair. It took about 4 hours and we couldn't finish because we ran out of hair extensions. We tried 3 different stores and they didn't have the extensions that we needed. So we are going to try again this weekend to finish. This hair thing is a whole new world to us lol!






Harriet fixed a yummy Ugandan lunch and we got lots of snuggles from their sweet 4 month old baby. ❤️❤️❤️









Too much cuteness!!!



And now for the happy news of the day!!! We just received an email that said Embassy appt #2 went well today and all our paperwork has been approved! This means there is a very good chance our case is not going to Rome!!! Thank you, Jesus! We were so happy to hear that news!

So now we have Mercy's #2 medical checkup at 8:30 in the morning and as soon as the Embassy receives our paperwork from that, we will have our visa exit interview. The "norm" right now is a minimum of 3-5 business days for the medical report to be sent to the Embassy but I'm praying it is sent by Friday then we could have our interview Monday and receive the visa Wednesday! Ahhhh! We are coming home as a family of 6!!! Thank you for praying us home!


11pm update: As part of the adoption game would have it, looks like even if we get the visa next week, there is no way we can be home for Easter as there are no flights available due to Easter and Spring Break. πŸ˜” Looks like we won't get home until late March/early April. We are so disappointed but apparently this is part of God's plan. At least our case was not sent to Rome and we get to all go home together.

Day 51: Thursday, March 17, 2016 - Today we had Mercy's 2nd and final medical appointment at IOM.


It was a very simple check-up but Mercy was pretty nervous and whimpered a lot. I'm sure she thought she might get pricked again so she wanted me to hold her tight the entire time. She kept saying, "Mommy no poke. No clying (crying). Me: I'm brave!" πŸ˜‰ She seems to be healthy so that's good for her but we were given no medical records from the babies home so I don't know what her previous health record has been and what, if any, vaccinations she has had to date.

IOM told me that the Embassy should receive our paperwork by next Thursday. I asked if it might be sent quicker than that and the doctor said, "or it might possibly be sent tomorrow," so we are praying for tomorrow morning. πŸ˜‰ Then we could still be on track for having our visa interview Monday (if there are spots available) and pick up the visa Wednesday. They only do interviews on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, so if we don't get it on one of those two days, we won't get one until the following week which puts us here into the last week of March.

We are still praying more flights will come available, too. We have to book through our travel agent because we bought our round trip tickets through them. We also have to book on KLM and with missionary rates so that really limits our seats going back.

We have found it costs a lot more to live here in Kampala as opposed to Jinja. Drivers, food, and lodging are about twice as much so we try to keep our trips out as minimal as possible. In fact, we are considering going back to Jinja if we have to wait very long on flights to come available to save money. Plus, we just like their slower-paced life style better. It takes forever to get anywhere in Kampala because of the traffic and sure makes us appreciate our "small" town back home!

Bringing Asher back to Uganda has been quite the experience! Ugandans ask me all the time if I am "taking" him, too. They are shocked when I tell them we adopted him 3 years ago and that we plan on bringing him back when we can to visit. Then they light up and say, "Wow! Thank you! He is doing so well and is so happy!" Asher has always been very inquisitive and even back home, any time we have someone out to work on our house, he has to be right there with the worker studying what they are doing and asking lots of questions. The same is true for here. He plays with the kids some, but he really likes being around the workers asking them questions about what they are doing. The guest house is getting painted this week so he's been following around one of the painters...


The painter told me Asher is a very bright boy and he couldn't believe he just turned five. He said compared to other boys his age, he is so "calm" (lol if he only knew!) and said he spoke more like a 10 year old rather a five year old. He said he asks so many interesting questions! I'm thinking to myself, "Really?!" And hoping he's not in the way but the workers really seem to enjoy having him around. Overall, it's been such a great experience for him and I'm so glad he had this opportunity. 🌍❤️🌍❤️

Here's a few more pics from today - hanging out at our guest house...










Day 52: Friday, March 18, 2016 - 4:40am: Mercy has come such a long way since the day we met her. Her heart is still healing and hurts come out on occasion but she loves our family and of course we adore her. She hasn't had one of her "episodes" in several weeks now and her discipline issues have become much more less of an issue. I usually hold her and rock her at night before bedtime. We sing songs and I scratch her arm softly to help her get tired. Last night she wanted to scratch my arm and sing me songs. It was so sweet and brought tears to my eyes thinking we actually get to bring her home with us.

This adoption has been so hard, crazy, messy, and yet beautiful in God's timing. Once again God has reminded us of His faithfulness and love. We heard from the Embassy this morning that they should receive the medical report Monday morning. If they do, our exit interview is scheduled for Monday afternoon at 1:30 and we can pick up Mercy's visa Wednesday! Now we are praying flights come available this next week but not getting our hopes up just in case. We know everything will come together in God's timing. Thank you for continuing to pray us home! ❤️❤️❤️ 

2:50pm Update: We went to a large craft market today called The Friday Market. They have amazing deals and some really great finds! The girls purchased several items to take back with them and sell as a fundraiser for their upcoming mission trips this summer. I was surprised that Asher and Mercy survived the market but they did really great and got a few awesome things, too. They got really good at telling the pushy vendors, "No thank you!" 󾍇








Here's a funny for ya. We were able to hire an exercise instructor to come to our guest house and teach a "Zumba"/hip-hop class for us. We were quite a site and I'm sure all the workers thought we were nutso. But it got us moving and we had fun laughing at ourselves so it was worth it.



And now for some exciting news! It looks like we are coming home by Easter after all! Tickets still have to be confirmed, but we should be home Sunday night (March 27) around 5:45pm! We were hoping to be home in time for Easter service but being home on Easter is just as good! This truly is a miracle as we started praying around the middle of February that we'd be home by Easter. Sigh. God's timing is always perfect. The girls are already begging for Chick-Fil-A to be their first meal home lol. Soon! Very soon! Here's a few more pics from today...

The girls doing their school work. It's been a challenge
but we are glad for what they've been able to accomplish.



We finally got to video chat with my
family tonight. Very spotty reception
but it was good to "see" them and
introduce them to Mercy!

Day 53: Saturday, March 19, 2016 - This morning we went back to our friend, Harriet's, house so she could finish Mercy's hair. This hair thing is a whole new learning curve for us. I thought we'd finish in easily an hour but it took closer to 3 1/2! I'm thinking we won't be getting these hair extensions again for a long while! They are super cute but I don't want to put Mercy through this again until she's older and able to sit still for longer periods of time.

We also enjoyed some singing, guitar playing, baby holding, and eating Ugandan food...







When we returned to the guest house, a nail tech was there giving pedicures to all the ladies that were interested. My feet were in desperate need of one because of red dirt that won't wash off and caked-on bug repellant on my toe nail polish (I know, that's a lovely thought 😜) so I chose to not think about the foot diseases I could get and got a pedi anyway. I have to say, that was NOT relaxing, but my feet do look way better. Mercy and Kenzie got mini-pedis, too. At only 10,000 shillings (about $3), it was hard to pass up!



Here's a few more pics from our day...



Jackfruit! So yummy!


On tap for tomorrow: Palm Sunday at Gaba Community Church

PS - Steve bought our return tickets today and he is flying in the latter part of next week to help us get home! We are just a little overjoyed with that bit of information! πŸŽ‰πŸŽ‰πŸŽ‰

Day 54: Sunday, March 20, 2016 - This morning we attended Gaba Community Church. This is one of the churches we visited when we adopted Asher so I thought it would be neat to revisit it 3 years later. I thought the service began at 11 but it started a little later at 11:30. Our driver dropped us off so to pass time we decided to take a little walk. The church was actually right on Lake Victoria and there was a boat dock close by so we went to check it out. But to get there we had to pass by some humongous birds called Marabou Stork. They are so creepy looking, they are as big as humans (5 feet tall and a wingspan of about 10-12 feet!), and they are seen all over Uganda. Our driver said they are known as "city" birds, they don't bother humans, and they like to be wherever there is rubbish so they can snack on it. After the adventure of walking past those creatures, we got to the dock but didn't stay long as it was pretty wobbly 😜.





The worship part of the service was good but the service itself was so long. We left "early" - almost 2 hours into it.


Because the service was so long, we missed lunch at our guest house so we ate out at Cafe Javas, one of our favorite places to eat. The cafe is located in Oasis Mall which is another location we went to often while here adopting Asher. They have a big in-door playground and since it was so hot today, we thought that would be something fun to do to beat the heat. Mercy had a blast as shown by her smile in the pics below.













We have discovered an amazing invention here in Uganda - Hellofood UG. There are over 100 restaurants in our area that you can order from on the HelloFood app and they will deliver it to your home for only a $1-2 delivery charge!


Our guest house doesn't serve dinner on Sunday's so we thought we'd try ordering take-out pizza from Caffè Roma. It was so easy to order on HelloFood, took a little less than an hour to be delivered, and it tasted great. This invention could be quite dangerous as we noticed you can even have cupcakes delivered to your door. In Uganda?! Who knew?!

Here's a few pics and videos of Mercy and Asher taken before church this morning...





And this was taken this evening. Can never begin too young educating our kids on the important things in life ;-) ...


Big prayers are appreciated for our embassy appointment tomorrow at 1:30pm UG time. We can only have the appointment if the medical papers are sent in the morning so please pray that the Embassy receives them. Also please pray that they accept all of our paperwork and that our case does not get sent to Rome! Countdown to ‪#‎bringMercyhomebyEaster‬: 7 more days!

Day 55: Monday, March 21, 2016 - I found out early this morning that our IOM medical paperwork was sent to the Embassy which meant our interview was still on for 1:30 in the afternoon. Thank you, Jesus! But now I have to laugh at everything that happened after that because everything that could have gone wrong, practically did! 😜 BUT God also provided a way out for every disaster that happened...

We found out mid-morning that we had to get to the Embassy by noon to make the payment for Mercy's visa (which is a little silly because our appointment was at 1:30. Anyway...) So I had to rush around and get ready quick. Then I got out my phone to call our boda driver and discovered I was out of phone minutes. So we had to go on a little walk to buy MTN minutes but on the way, the same boda guy I was going to call saw us walking and pulled up and asked if we needed a ride! Whew! I was so glad because mercy was getting really heavy to carry. So he took me to get phone minutes then dropped us off at the Embassy.

I checked in at the front desk and realized I forgot my passport! You HAVE to have a passport to get in the Embassy but amazingly they let me get in with my drivers license (which expired the day after we left for UG!) and the guy at the adoption desk always asks for the passport but he didn't ask for mine! Then it was my turn to pay and they wouldn't accept my debit card because Steve's name was on it and not mine! By this time, it was 11:30. I only had 30 minutes to find a boda to take me to an ATM and get back to the Embassy. But on the way out, I saw another adoptive mom that I had talked to a few times while in jinja. She had the exact amount I needed and insisted that I borrow it and pay her back later on PayPal. So we barely made the payment on time! If we were late, they probably would have cancelled our appointment. I'm still amazed at God's provision!

Then our whole family went to the interview in the afternoon. The girls really wanted to listen in but they only allowed Mercy and I to do the interview. It lasted about 45 minutes and was very simple. I've heard horror stories lately about how cruel and rude adoptive families are being treated at the Embassy but honestly, they have only been super kind to me and we've had excellent communication through email. They said WE HAVE BEEN GRANTED OUR VISA and will pick it up Wednesday at 4pm sharp! Those were the best words we've heard on this journey!

So we had to go to La Patisserie for ice cream after dinner to celebrate.



We are actually nearing the end of this in-country process! It's so hard to imagine. There's been so many times I was worried the adoption would never happen but God has moved mountains. I hope you can all see that and know that I didn't do any of this on my own strength. I would have failed for sure trying! This is all God and He gets all the glory.

Our plans for the rest of the week are to pick up the visa Wednesday then we are going back to our "2nd home", Jinja. Our flight doesn't leave until Saturday so we're going to spend our last few days there. We are also going back to the Providence Guest House where they said our room is still available. Steve will join us late Friday morning (πŸŽ‰πŸŽ‰πŸŽ‰πŸŽ‰πŸŽ‰) to help us get back home.

Our flight leaves Saturday night at 11:30 and we arrive in Tulsa Sunday evening at 5:45pm. Several have asked if we'd like to have visitors at the airport. Anyone is welcome to come who'd like to be there. Just don't laugh at me if I do the ugly cry. 😜 My friend, Cathy Border, will post our flight details soon.

We just can't thank you all enough for following our journey and praying for us. I know you all have very busy lives and real life struggles, too. For you to take the time to think of us blows our minds away, yet we are so very grateful. We're bringing Mercy home in 6 days! Can't wait to breathe again on American soil!

Two more pics from today...

Asher showing Mercy how to fold clothes ;-)

Another adoptive mom at our guest house introduced
me to this tea and I love it so much. I will definitely
have to order some when I get home!

Day 56: Tuesday, March 22, 2016 - The owners of our guest house are Ellen and Herb Cook. They own a farm and acreage about 45 minutes away and invited the adoptive families to go see it today. The kids had so much fun seeing the animals and playing on their land. I think they had 7 huge pigs and and one just recently had 11 piglets last week. They were so cute!































The kids were hungry after we arrived back at the
guest house and enjoyed a little snack of jackfruit

Three prayer requests for this week...

1. That we pick up Mercy's visa tomorrow at 4pm. Please pray it is ready on time and that there are no mistakes so we don't have to have it re-printed.

2. After we pick up the visa, we are driving to jinja where we'll stay until we leave to go home on Saturday. Please pray for safe travel to our destination.

3. Please pray for Steve as he will be traveling soon to UG to help us get home. He flies through Amsterdam but because of the Brussels attack, we are not sure if it will cause any delays or cancellations due to re-routing flights. And of course, we should all be praying for those affected by this horrific tragedy. Having flown through Brussels several times before, this just gives me such a sick feeling but so thankful that God is still in control!

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