Little Update on Big Brother....

Since we went "live" with this adoption, it feels like an eternity has passed!

I got a promotion at work.

WOOT!

We learned out.of.the.blue. that little man's paperwork is done and he is READY.

What?!?!?!?

Then, on Friday, I got the coveted affidavits.

Mutt, Jeff and I organized, copied and prepared them today.

We notarize tomorrow.

(Thank you, Carolyn!!!!)

And Monday, it's off to Uganda for our precious papers with a kiss and a prayer.

Soon, Z.

Soon.

School Carnival

The kids' new school (answered prayer) had a little back to school carnival today.

It was sweet...

Heard {and seen} around our 'Hood

Well, there is much to be said around our house in this season of change and growth.

For example, our nanny took the kids to the Museum of Science and Industry last month.  While walking through the life-sized model of a heart, Seth peered carefully at the parts, heard the heart beating, and asked, "Keveda, where is Jesus?  I don't see Jesus in the heart!"

Ah, my sweet boy.

So literal.

So precious.

Leah told me weeks later while falling asleep, "Mommy, I want Jesus in my heart TOO."

I know, sweet girl.

I know.

Leah also regularly asks whether I'm her "forever mommy" or her mommy forever.... Ah, yes.  She's getting it now!

On the new baby front, the nanny has reported that Seth has much to say about his to-be-brother when I'm not around.

A couple of weeks ago, he pulled himself up next to the picture we have on our kitchen cabinets and declared, "This might be my brudder.  I love him because he is my brudder and he needs a momma."

.....love....

Recently we were blessed to be able to send some little gifts to "brudder."  Before we went to purchase a couple of new items, Seth swept through his trains with determination and picked out a bunch that he was willing to give to him.  I just love how God is preparing all our hearts for this sweet boy.

There are no real adoption-related updates.

Our home study should be approved by Illinois shortly (Lord willing) and then we seek USCIS approval.  After that, it's the waiting game until they are ready for us in Uganda.

I did have one sweet wink from God in a dream last week.
The dream was a hodge podge of mixed up nothingness.
At one point, however, it was raining and sunny so I ran outside to see if there was a rainbow.
Not only was there one, there were three.  Side-by-side-by-side.
Three perfect promises from God.

Get ready, sweetness!  We are coming!!

Back to School

We started back-to-school after Labor Day this year.

Leah was excited.

 Seth was excited too....

he just couldn't be bothered by the obligatory pictures!!!

Annnnnd, they're off!!!

A *small* piece of news

In June, Seth started telling me that he wants an older brother.

Just a little older, as he put his hand just over the top of his head to show me precisely about what (or who) he is dreaming.

We had been talking and praying as a family about a third child since winter, so it wasn't completely out of the blue; but the idea of an older child was not on my radar -- not to mention we hadn't talked about a third child in months.

My reaction to Seth's request was to suggest to him that perhaps a younger child -- Leah's age -- was in our future.  Nope.  He wouldn't go for it and the requests for an older brother continued.

At the beginning of July, three different people in the Facebook world talked to me about a six year old in Uganda.  On the same day.

Hmm.

God?

So I started to ask questions and pray.

Today we are excited to announce that we are pursuing our third adoption!!!!

This boy is precious and we cannot wait to have him HOME.

He hasn't been at the orphanage long, so we are even more motivated to get him into a family.  OUR family.

While his life has been tragic so far, God has plans for him and for us -- for a hope and a future.

We'll keep you posted as we proceed but for now, we covet your prayers.  Nothing about this situation will be easy without God's hand in all of it.

Will you join with us?

xoxo

  "'if something might turn out to be disappointing to you, or painful, or less than you’d hoped…you have every reason to avoid it.'

This may represent great pop psychology, but nothing could be further from the call of Christ.  Yes, Jesus instructed potential disciples to count the cost of following him.  But that was precisely because he knew he was calling them to embrace a cross, not to avoid it.  To find true life, Jesus said, we must stand ready to lose life.  Lose comfort.  Lose control.  Lose convenience.

This always has been and always will be the road of the disciple.

Such choices do begin with a thoughtful, even deliberative, process of understanding risks and costs.  And (if this even needs to be said), discipleship never requires a reckless pursuit of difficulty as an end in itself.  But ultimately, any serious response to the call of Christ will involve real, hard-to-swallow costs—and with those costs, unparalleled rewards, some in this life and some in the next."

http://www.christianalliancefororphans.org/2012/08/18/the-real-issue-with-pat-robertsons-adoption-comments/