During a lot of our adoption journey, we likened our experience to being pregnant on paper. I have to say, looking back, it truly was very much like being pregnant, without the physical implications (though I wish I could explain weight gain away with this...). Well, if we were pregnant, then this is the story of our journey (a very long one at that) to the hospital.
Monday, June 1- Tuesday, June 2: We were as ready as we ever would be to leave for this trip. Our bags were packed, the house was closed up and we were ready to roll. Kelly's wonderful mom had Charlie (our dog, which has since taken up semi-permanent residence at her home!) and she drove us to the airport. We flew from Chicago to Amsterdam, had a layover, then flew Amsterdam to Entebbe. We arrived in Entebbe on the evening of June 2. We realized that though we had emailed our friends in Uganda to pick us up at the airport, we weren't sure at all who was coming to get us...which really just kind of was just the beginning of not knowing how things were going to work out. Thankfully, we only waited a few minutes to be greeted by Wilfred and Vena, Florence and Emma. We caravaned back to Sister Gertrude's house, where she had a delicious feast waiting for us. After eating and catching up, Kelly and I finally collapsed into bed (with the help of some Ambien!). Wednesday was going to be a big day.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Coffee, Dora and my favorite 5 year old
That pretty much sums up the beginning to most of my days- and I love it!
I started this blog in February mostly to feel like I was actually doing something to make progress in this adoption. Well, it's been 6 months since the last post and we're home!!! (Actually, we have been home for about 6 weeks, but I am WAY behind!)
So, instead of trying to recall the last 6 months, I will highlight the big things. Here we go:
February-April: These few months were pretty much filled with us just trying to stay sane, waiting and never knowing if or when we would be able to go and finally get our little Bakhita.
Late April: Frustrated and confused by something that was missing, we nearly called off the adoption. Our lawyer had contacted us with information that he was unable to get a much needed document, that could make or break our case. Not knowing what to do, Kelly and I started praying about calling everything off. That same day, we received a call from USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration services....and they NEVER call people!) that our Immigration application had FINALLY been accepted. We finally had the OK to bring a child into the USA. Now what?!? Again, we believed we should keep pressing on.
Sunday, May 24: God provided 2 round trip and 1 one way ticket for our family to go to Uganda to get Bakhita. We still had no idea when we would be leaving.
Tuesday, May 26: We received an email from our lawyer informing us that he was applying for a court date, and should know by the end of the week when we would be able to appear in Ugandan court. We did not hold our breaths that we would actually find out this week when we would go.
Friday, May 29, about 8:07 AM, McDonald's parking lot, West Chicago (not that I remember EXACTLY where I was!): I had stopped to get an iced coffee before going to work for the day. I was pulling out of the parking lot when my Blackberry buzzed that I had an email. I hoped it was something from Uganda, but didn't really expect it to be anything. I opened it, and saw that it was from our lawyer. Pretty much the rest of that morning is a blurr...the email said that we had been assigned a court date for June 3 (yes 6 days later) and that we should get on the next flight to Uganda. AAAAAHHHHHHH! We were actually going!!!
Friday, May 29-Sunday, May 31: I would sum up this weekend by just saying that we ran around like a bunch of crazy heads, but even more than that was the INCREDIBLE, AWESOME ways that God provided everything we needed (and a lot of things we wanted) for us to get on our way to Uganda: from the cash we needed to travel, extra suitcases, house sitters, dog sitter and even $9 suit pants for Kelly!
I started this blog in February mostly to feel like I was actually doing something to make progress in this adoption. Well, it's been 6 months since the last post and we're home!!! (Actually, we have been home for about 6 weeks, but I am WAY behind!)
So, instead of trying to recall the last 6 months, I will highlight the big things. Here we go:
February-April: These few months were pretty much filled with us just trying to stay sane, waiting and never knowing if or when we would be able to go and finally get our little Bakhita.
Late April: Frustrated and confused by something that was missing, we nearly called off the adoption. Our lawyer had contacted us with information that he was unable to get a much needed document, that could make or break our case. Not knowing what to do, Kelly and I started praying about calling everything off. That same day, we received a call from USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration services....and they NEVER call people!) that our Immigration application had FINALLY been accepted. We finally had the OK to bring a child into the USA. Now what?!? Again, we believed we should keep pressing on.
Sunday, May 24: God provided 2 round trip and 1 one way ticket for our family to go to Uganda to get Bakhita. We still had no idea when we would be leaving.
Tuesday, May 26: We received an email from our lawyer informing us that he was applying for a court date, and should know by the end of the week when we would be able to appear in Ugandan court. We did not hold our breaths that we would actually find out this week when we would go.
Friday, May 29, about 8:07 AM, McDonald's parking lot, West Chicago (not that I remember EXACTLY where I was!): I had stopped to get an iced coffee before going to work for the day. I was pulling out of the parking lot when my Blackberry buzzed that I had an email. I hoped it was something from Uganda, but didn't really expect it to be anything. I opened it, and saw that it was from our lawyer. Pretty much the rest of that morning is a blurr...the email said that we had been assigned a court date for June 3 (yes 6 days later) and that we should get on the next flight to Uganda. AAAAAHHHHHHH! We were actually going!!!
Friday, May 29-Sunday, May 31: I would sum up this weekend by just saying that we ran around like a bunch of crazy heads, but even more than that was the INCREDIBLE, AWESOME ways that God provided everything we needed (and a lot of things we wanted) for us to get on our way to Uganda: from the cash we needed to travel, extra suitcases, house sitters, dog sitter and even $9 suit pants for Kelly!
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