Happy Birthday to my TEENAGERS!

Ok so I'll admit it - this birthday is a hard one.  Jack and Noah, I still see you like this:

When in reality, you are this:

Somehow, I never quite believed, or could get my mind around the fact, that one day you would be TEENAGERS.  You are my BABIES, for crying out loud.  And you always will be - no matter how old you get or how far you move away.  It seriously seems like just a couple years ago you were pushing trucks around the house with your sippy cups, we were reading books to you, working on potty training, and you went to bed with your blankies.  Where did 13 years go?!  And yet each of those years has been God's precious and priceless gift to us, and somehow I love you even more now than I did then.  More than being our children, you have also become our friends, confidants and even advisors - the people we love to hang out with more than anyone in the world.  (But yes, we are still parents first!  No one worry - we get that.)  :)


Noah - you are growing into quite the young man, and can you believe this was the year you became a big brother?!?  You continue to surprise us with new facets of YOU all the time.  To be honest, you were one of our ROCKS through our adoption during the past year.  When things would fall apart (as they often did!), you were the one to keep a level head, would reason with us and bring us back down from whatever tree we were in.  I believe there were many reasons that God led us to bring you to Africa twice - one of them being the comforting presence you were to Dad and I.  You have the tenderest of hearts, yet can argue and debate better than most adults.  You are QUICK.  I used to be the queen of "comebacks" and now you can think faster than I can, which just leaves us chuckling and shaking our head.  You are incredibly smart, breezing through 6th grade with straight A's - but more important than that, every teacher we talked to this year gave you high praise about your character and behavior.  Your loves are football and basketball - you are like a walking encyclopedia about the NFL, and even though I'm not a huge fan, it's always interesting to hear you rattle off facts about all the teams and players.  You were somewhat frustrated
with your basketball season, but you were too hard on yourself and didn't see all the things you did RIGHT - evidenced by the fact you received the Coach's Award, which is given to someone who makes the coach love his job.  That's more important than any score stats, buddy!  Even though we see you maturing, you are still my cuddle bug, always ready to wrap me in a big hug, or hold my hand while watching TV.  You have no idea how that helps my heart through this growing process.  This year was the first time we got to witness you as a big brother - and you are AMAZING.  You were first a big brother to all those precious kids at the orphanage - they adored you and you responded with lots of hugs and played with them all, never wanting to leave.  You were a huge advocate for bringing like 3 or 4 or 7 of them home instead of just one - and it's been apparent that you left part of your heart in Uganda.  I believe God placed a seed in your heart there and I can not WAIT to see what He will do with it.  Your adjustment to Maggie has had it's very normal ups and downs - it's hard for 2 twelve year old boys to have their lives upended by a 3 year old girl but you have done amazing.  You are so patient with Maggie (MOST of the time!), eating the pretend food she cooks for you, listening to her endlessly talking your ear off, letting her ride on your back while you crawl around like a horse and most recently, trying to teach her hide-and-seek.   You've even mastered the art of putting her to bed, which is no small feat!  Your current favorites include Minecraft, debating/manipulating your parents, hoops in the driveway, tater tot hotdish, Duck Dynasty, reading your bible, Nutella, Nerf gun wars, camping, the NFL channel, and spending time with your buddies.  You will never understand the amazing gift you are to us, our sweet Noah - you have impacted our lives in a powerful way and you are a blessing to anyone who crosses your path.  There aren't words to tell you how much you are loved and adored - not only by us but by your God.


Jack - my sweet baby, you are quite the dichotomy right now (yep, go look it up!).  We have looked at you so many times in the past 6-9 months with astonishment at what we see happening right before our very eyes.  You are rapidly and visibly turning into a man.  You and Noah started meticulously measuring each other on the wall last winter - sort of as a competition - and we were all shocked to see you had grown an inch in 6 weeks (and then another inch since then!).  You are now as tall as me, and your feet are bigger than mine.  Your bone structure has changed dramatically - you now have these huge man-hands, your shoulders are broad, your arms are muscular and your face has totally lost it's "little-boy" look.  I look at you and have such an intense mix of emotions - part of my heart screams to the little boy in there "NO, don't go!" while another part of my heart leaps with excitement at who you are turning into and what God is doing with you.  So much of you seems old - you are getting all "cool" on us - but I can still find my little boy in that heart of yours which was broken in pieces in Uganda.  We were amazed to see how profoundly you were affected by your time at the orphanage and how deeply those kids touched your heart.  You shed many tears over those kids, and had your heart totally ripped in two by one of them.  You even had your first experience with righteous anger over the fact we couldn't take more than one child home with us.  While it was so painful to watch you go through all of this, the whole time God was reassuring me that He would USE this experience later.  I can't wait to see what He will do!   You had an amazing first year of middle school - straight A's, and just like Noah, earned high commendations from your teachers about who you are - which we find infinitely more important than a grade.  Your sports are also football and basketball - in football you made your mark as a QB and earned yourself the starting position next fall.  In basketball, you earned the Rookie of the Year award, scoring 83 points during the season, and even playing up on the 8th grade team.  You are clearly gifted athletically and it's so fun to watch you play - you are INTENSE.  And FAST.  And unfortunately ended up sidelined the last 2 weeks of basketball because you were growing too fast and the bones in your leg outgrew the tendon in your knee, making any physical activity painful.  A trip to the orthopedic doctor revealed the condition may last up to 18 months, which was devastating to you - but you've learned to work around it.  You spend many minutes each day icing your knee, but you never complain.  You are also a fantastic big brother to your tiny sister who ADORES you.  You taught her to tickle, so that's exactly what she does to you ALL THE TIME, even when you aren't in the mood. :)  You and Maggie tease each other like you've been siblings for years, and while it drives me nuts, it somehow also warms my heart.  She is a blessed little girl, having you in her life to look out for her.  Besides the aforementioned, your favorites in life are shooting hoops in the driveway, eating ice (constantly), Duck Dynasty (specifically Si), fishing, Looney Tunes, pizza rolls, reading your bible, hiding out in your room, blaring your Christian rock while in the shower, eating ice cream a 1/2 gallon at a time, and frequently rolling your eyes at your parents.  Overall, this year has brought the most change to your life since your very first year of life - and you have weathered it all spectacularly.  You fascinate us, Jackaroni, and I absolutely know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, God has big plans for you.  You are an amazing gift to us and you are truly loved with all our hearts.

You both have lived in Maggie's shadow for much of the past year so I really wanted this birthday to be a special one - all about YOU and the amazing young men you are becoming.  I don't think you will ever really understand how much your dad and I (and your whole family) love you.  You guys are LIGHTS in our world - the bright spots in our days - a comfort to our souls.

So you're probably thinking we dropped the ball on this birthday - no party planned, no cake chosen, not much fuss so far.  WELL.  That's about to change.  We have some surprises planned over the next couple days, so your party is just beginning.  I hope this is one you will remember!!  I love you both with every fiber of my being, Mom.

A Maggie Update (several months in the making!)

I decided it was high time I sat down and recorded some things about Maggie's adjustment to Roisum life . . . yikes, can't believe she's already been home 7 months!  Overall, she has done great - way better than we expected.  Each area of her life came with some quirks that we have either adjusted to or she has overcome.  I'll list some of the major areas below:

The dogs - oh the horror she experienced!  Dogs are NOT your friends in Uganda, and children are taught that practically from infancy, so this was an enormous challenge to overcome.  Maggie would act like Satan himself walked in the room anytime the dogs would enter - eventually we got past the screaming and crying and she managed to co-exist with them - meaning if they were out, she was as high up on the furniture as she could get.  This went on for months and we began to question if the dogs (mainly the golden) would have to find a new home.  Then one day, out of the blue, she got up in the morning and told me she wasn't scared anymore.  And gave Tucker (the golden) a hug, and that was that.  ?!?!?  Crazy!  Now both dogs are her buddies - she hauls them all over the house and bosses them around all day long.  It's amazing.

Food.  Initially, she wouldn't eat anything processed - from a can or box - mainly just plain, simple food (which is what she was used to).  She's progressed from that (not sure if that's good or bad? haha) and her favorite is pizza. :)  She LOVES vegetables and fruit and I have learned to "sneak in" all manner of smoothies - the ones that include veggies like spinach, pumpkin, squash, etc. and she loves them all.  As a result of all this amazing nutrition, she has GROWN - almost 2 inches and 4 pounds since we came home.  Two funny things: 1) she will NOT eat breakfast, and I've decided not to fight it - it's a losing battle; and 2) milk - which I knew she drank at the orphanage, but she wouldn't drink here.  Once she learned enough English, she explained that it was too cold.  :)  They BOILED their milk at the orphanage and drank it hot.  So once I learned to put it in the microwave, she drank milk.  She's now adjusted to it being cold.

Sleeping - this has been interesting.  The biggest miracle is that she sleeps through the night - 11ish hours, with no problem.  Her sleeping hours at the orphanage? 10:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m. !!  I have no idea why they kept such crazy hours.  When she first came home, she would only use the blanket on the bed - no sheet (she'd shove it down to the bottom of the bed) - and would wrap that sucker around her body like a burrito - head included!  It took some serious effort to unwrap her and check on her!  This remained a mystery until I read that kids in Africa will sleep like that to protect themselves from mosquito bites.  We started explaining to her that there weren't any bugs in our house and she didn't have to sleep with her head wrapped up like that - so then she quit.  But still no sheets - she even had to lay a blanket down underneath her so she wouldn't feel the bottom sheet.  Once again, learning a little more English helped this mystery as well - she said the sheets were too cold.  Just like the milk.  Ha. :)  She is slowly overcoming that as well - sometimes is ok with the sheets - but it's not a battle we feel we need to fight.  One thing she is ADAMANT about is sleeping with her lamp on.  We initially decided this wasn't a big deal and let it go - but now thinking we need to fix that because when we all sleep in a hotel room together - or in our camper - we have an issue.  Lastly on the sleeping - this girl is a FANATIC about having everything on her bed and in her room in PERFECT condition before she sleeps.  She will fuss and arrange and fuss and arrange and fuss and arrange her pillow, blankets, comforter, stuff on her nightstand and dresser until all is in PERFECT ORDER.  It's really interesting to watch, but it also worries me a little that she has OCD.  Whew.  I get tired watching her.

Stuffed animals - this has been crazy for me, a huge stuffed animal lover (yes I still have some on my bed and I'm over 40!).  She HATES them.  She doesn't like them "looking" at her.  ??  Before she came home, I bought her a huge, totally adorable giraffe that sits in the corner of her room and it has caused a significant amount of distress - one minute she can't stand it in her room, so then Jack and Noah try to adopt it, but then she wants it back.  I've tried telling her we'll get rid of it, but she doesn't like that solution either.  So each week is a question as to whether the giraffe will remain in her room or not.  :)

Speech - her English is amazing and she caught on incredibly fast -with no outside help.  She's even ahead of herself, if that makes sense.  She says phrases that she hears us saying, but doesn't know what they mean.  :)  She communicates perfectly for the most part - but still has an accent, which is adorable, but it gives her trouble with "ha"and "ho" sounds - and in general words that start with H are difficult.  It's interesting.  We aren't too concerned yet - she'll start preschool in the fall and if they think we need to get her some assistance, we will.

One of the big struggles for me is her age - not knowing when she was born, and knowing that I will never know.  This is harder than I ever anticipated.  We  truly have no idea how old she is, and that has been a challenge, setting a birthdate.  How does one do that?!?  I have to believe it will all work out, but it's hard for me mentally.  Looking at her, she's tiny - definitely the size of a 3 year old, but her intelligence level (and attitude!!) make her seem a lot older.  My own brain is having difficulties in figuring out how to handle her - like the 3 year old we've determined she is, or like the 8 year old her maturity level points to (or even the 16 year old attitude!).  But in the big picture, this is a small thing to overcome, much smaller than many other adoptive issues.

Maggie has told us a lot about life at the orphanage - something we didn't expect.  It's amazing what she still remembers for such a little person.  She's told us about her bed, her food, her friends, described washing the floor, and washing clothes (yes, she did those things at 2 years old!) - told us she got spanked if she didn't finish all her food, and would also get spanked if she got up during the night to go potty.  She showed us how she was spanked, which was with a STICK. :(  But she acts like it was no big thing.  She still names her friends by name, and talks a lot about "her baby."  (Even the littlest kids there took care of the babies - it's amazing to see).  Evidently, there was one in particular she was attached to, and she still refers to him as "HER baby."  It breaks my heart because I know she wonders about him, and she will likely never see him again.

Overall, this little girl is a complete riot - she is FULL of life and energy - talks and talks and TALKS some more, and laughs and giggles and teases her brothers and is always ready with hugs for us.  She has a huge personality which comes with some big highs and some big lows as well - she still questions authority but we are slowly winning that battle - but mainly has adjusted beautifully.  We do still have bumps in the road, things certainly aren't perfect, and we still have a journey ahead of us but we are THANKFUL for how far she (and we!) have come.  We have a court date for July 10th, on which a judge will hopefully declare her a Roisum. :)  Can't wait.

Updates on our other two precious babies coming next week . . . on their 13th birthdays!

Thankful . . .

God did something amazing for me this Thanksgiving.  As I've been processing the events of our adoption, and reflecting on everything I have to be thankful for, I realized I was actually thankful for all of the crazy mountains we faced on our adoption journey - ?!?  Believe me, I did not come to this place on my own - it was all God, and this revelation He gave me:

Maggie's past is painful and ugly.  It's marked with abandonment and loss not just once, but many times over.  Over half of her short life was spent in an orphanage.  This tiny little soul was left alone in a dark world and was toughened and forced to learn to care for herself and to become remarkably independent at an age when she should have been dependent on loving parents. 

But God, in His amazing grace and love and mercy and wisdom, rewrote her story through the struggles of our adoption. 

During our times of fear and uncertainty and heartbrokenness, I kept asking God WHAT He wanted us to learn?  Hadn't we learned enough?  Hadn't we shown that we were being obedient?  What was the purpose in all of the insanity? 

What He revealed to me recently was that none of the struggles were about US.  Sure, we learned many things, and all four of us have walked away from this process with an entirely new and beautiful perspective of our God, but those things were just side effects of the real purpose - giving Maggie a beautiful story.

When she is old enough, she will read through everything I have recorded about her adoption - and there is NO WAY she won't see her God's hand in all of it.  His name is written all over it.  He, and He alone, paved the road, opened doors, removed obstacles, and orchestrated circumstances to bring her home to us.  There were many points in our process where He made it crystal clear this adoption was His will and His plan.

So rather than looking at her past and seeing brokenness and ugliness, Maggie will *hopefully* see the beautiful story of how the God of the universe rescued her and gave her a new life.  It amazes me that while in those uncertain moments, what I saw was testing and hardship and what was really occurring was God's amazing, profound love of Maggie - caring enough for her to give her a new past, a new story.  He absolutely rocks my world, people.

And this new revelation I've had also fulfills a promise God made me after our return from our first trip.  I mentioned this in a previous post, but while unpacking when we got home, I flipped my devotional calendar to the date of our horrendous court hearing where everything fell apart - June 24th.  The verse on that day was John 13:7 - "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."   !!!!  So throughout the summer and this fall I've been waiting to "understand" why in the world we had to go through the things we did. 

Now I do.  It was all for Maggie. 

Is He good to us or what?  He didn't have to explain Himself, but in this case He did. 

God was allowing mountains in our path so He could miraculously remove them as a profession of love for His little girl.  In ways so obvious that she will see HIM in her past instead of the ugly.  His unmistakable actions on her behalf will speak to her heart for all the years of her life.

And in His mighty sovereignty, He also gave me a gift.  In recent years, I've been one who is terrified to do anything outside of God's will.  It makes for paralyzing indecision at times.  And early in this process, I often struggled with the question of whether or not we really should be adopting.  Questioning if it was really God's plan for us?   Had we heard Him correctly?  Were we mistaken?  Did we misunderstand?  Take the wrong path?  But through the obstacles God removed, it was like He took my hand and said "yes, this is the way - I have ordained it."  What we went through these past several months has been hard - agonizing at times - but what I have seen God do has completely erased any doubt I may have had about being in His will.  He knew what it would take to make me know, for sure.  :)   I know, without a doubt, we heard Him correctly, and it was His plan for Maggie to become a part of our family.  Having that assurance in my life - in our lives - is priceless.

And having HIM in our lives is priceless too.  Walking this road with GOD by our side, and getting a front row seat to His mighty, incredible hand at work is an experience unlike any other.  It's addictive. He is REAL.  He is ALIVE.  He is LOVE.  He is mind-blowing.  This experience has left me wanting more of HIM.  I can't wait to see what He has for us next. :)

Haunted

We are settling into a routine here, which has been good for all of us, especially Maggie.  She does best when she knows what's coming next.  Don't we all??  :)  She has been sleeping good - usually 11 hours a night, and takes an afternoon nap of 1-2 hours, so we are happy with the sleep portion of her adjustment!  One downside is that she has become VERY picky about what she eats - not sure if that may have something to do with all these new options?  She will eat any kind of fruit, except bananas (which was a staple in her diet in Uganda - go figure), and her other "go-to's" are yogurt, applesauce, peanut butter and pancakes.  Protein and vegetables are NOT high on her list and we usually have to bribe with one of the above to get her to eat any.

One thing that's been fascinating for us to see is that this girl is FULL of personality.    Which totally wears her mama out. :)  As Hamza would say, "oh my lawd!"  She is SO anxious to learn, repeats most of what we say, talks all the time (even if we can't understand her), counts to 20, sings the ABCs, missing the "QRSTUV," knows about 6 colors, laughs and laughs and laughs, makes jokes by mixing up our names on purpose, loves to dance, laughs some more, tickles her brothers, jumps on the furniture, attempts gymnastics moves, talks and waves to people on TV, talks to people on the phone, tries wearing ALL her jewelry at once, loves shoes, yells at Murphy constantly . . . and just totally has LIFE coming out her pores!!  Can't believe the energy/entertainment/exhaustion she has brought to our family. :)

Meanwhile, I can't stop thinking about the kids left in the orphanage. I keep asking God, "why just one?"  And all manner of questions bother me: Why couldn't we bring all of them back here and find them homes?  Or at least 2 or 3 more? Why is it so hard for people to adopt?  Why was Maggie given a family and the others haven't been?  With every doctor or dentist visit, with every hug and kiss we give her, with every good meal she eats, with every goodnight, tucking her into bed, with every bonding moment, I think of those faces at her orphanage.  I believe they may haunt me forever.  They were just as precious as she is, and yet they still sit there, lonely, forgotten, and just a number in a crowd.  She's been sick the past 24 hours, running a fever, and all she wants to do is cuddle on our laps and sleep.  What do the kids in the orphanage do when they have a fever?  Does anyone take their temperature and give them medicine? (From what I've seen, I doubt it.)  Who cuddles the sick kids and gives them undivided attention?

I know, now more than ever, that God's plans are perfect and that He holds each one of those kids in His hands.  And I know I will never get answers to my questions - but I'm trying to sort out how to deal with them.  Do I pray that I could forget?  I don't think so.  But I find my heart heavy, and I find myself feeling guilty that I'm relieved to be home, to be back in America, to be out of Uganda.    There are so many people in that country who are desperate to get out, to come here, to escape the hard life they face daily there.

All I can come up with at this point is to try and honor God with what He's blessed me with and bring up this little girl with a knowledge of the amazing things her Lord has done for her.  And trust that HE will take care of the rest.

Two Weeks Home . . .

And things haven't calmed down yet!  After the entire family welcomed us home, my sister and her family left the next day, and my mom moved in for the next few days to help me get on my feet again.  Shortly after she left, Mark's mom and dad came for 5 days, and just in the nick of time, as I got sick.

Nice timing.

As if coming home wasn't hard enough.

Why don't moms of very. busy. toddlers. get an exemption from illness??   I was knocked flat and yet had to drag myself to our travel doctor so I could be tested for all manner of African and exotic illnesses.  :)  Thankfully, all tests came back negative, and I just needed to GET THROUGH IT.  Feeling better, but I can tell my body is still fighting.  I think the stress of the trip and the exhaustion incurred on the way home took it's toll and my body said DONE.

And speaking of doctors, Maggie had her very thorough physical, and passed with flying colors.  Her doctor was very impressed (shocked, even) with how healthy she is and how well taken care of she was.  We are so thankful.  She does have giardia, but the thought is that she's likely had it since she was a baby.  So we're doing a 10 day course of treatment, which she hates, but takes it like a sport.

She has been busy charming the pants off everyone she meets - which is so fun for us to see.  She definitely is NOT a wallflower - this little girl has a *huge* personality.  Very outgoing, entertaining and a total crack-up.  We are constantly amazed by what she knows and what she catches on to (and how fast).  She repeats everything we say, so we have learned to be quite careful - funny how some seemingly harmless things we say sound a lot worse coming out of the mouth of a child.

The downside?  She hates dogs.  HATES. DOGS.  We have two.  Do we see the problem here?

We brought home our littler one - a cavalier who is 20 pounds and is the most kind and gentle-hearted dog ever (Murphy).  Initially, Maggie acted like he was Satan himself.  She's improved from that - will now at least be in the same room as him, but climbs us like trees if Murphy gets too close.  Her preference is being anywhere off the ground if he's around.

Meanwhile, our golden retriever, Tucker, is at a friend's house until we see some progress in her fear of dogs.  We dropped off some dog food for him today (while they weren't home) and saw him through a window in their garage and, ohhh - that was not a good plan .  It broke our hearts, and he looked at us like "WHAT is going on here?"  Kindof wishing I hadn't seen him - I was doing ok until then.  Just praying he'll get to come home soon!

And so we continue our adjustment, and constantly wonder what Maggie is thinking.  She seems to be adapting so well, but we know there are times when she is processing, and we desperately wish we knew what goes on in that precious little head.  I for one look at her and am constantly in awe of God and how He pulled this family together.  How He plucked her out of a hopeless, desperate situation and placed her in a huge family who adores her.  Which is a beautiful reminder of exactly what He does for us - plucks us out of our lost and hopeless situations and adopts us as His own.  Utterly amazing. 

"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!"  1 John 1:3

Coming home

One of the most glorious days ever was the day we left Uganda.  I know that doesn't sound very "nice" about our daughter's home country, but I'm just being real.  This trip was not fun.  It was grueling.  It took YEARS off our lives.  I know people want to hear that we just loved Uganda and were enchanted by the place, but sorry.  Not our experience.  We were SO READY to come home.  That said, though, leaving came with some tough goodbyes.  One being to our precious maid, Shamim, who was a joy to talk with everyday and treated us like family.  Her twin sister and her parents were killed in a war in northern Uganda when she was NINE.  Can you even imagine?  A relative took her in and raised her, so she had a special heart for adoption and was so excited for all of us, especially Maggie.

And Hamza, our driver - although he was so much more than a driver to us.  He became our family and will always hold an incredibly special place in our hearts.  He took care of us, prayed for us, taught us the language and the culture (could not BELIEVE Mark didn't present my family with a cow when we got engaged!), made us laugh our heads off and loved us. We will never forget that it was during his prayer for us (while we were in the embassy) that God nudged him to call for our law firm to bring Maggie's father.  He played a big role in bringing Maggie home, and it broke our hearts when we learned he doesn't have email or Facebook or any way to stay in touch with us.  So we parted ways at the airport with huge hugs and Mark and I cried like babies saying goodbye, but at least we know we'll see him again in the presence of Jesus.  And oh how we'll laugh together again.

And then our sweet friends from Tennessee.  A friendship born of our adoption journeys.  It is amazing to us how God brought us both to Uganda, during the exact same dates and we are all so similar.  Mark and Leighton have the same job, and Mary Craig and I are kindred spirits.  We have opinions - lots of them - that are totally united. :)  I believe God knew exactly who we each needed to finish this process with, and I pray that this was just the beginning of a long and special friendship.

So, leaving the country also brought one more hurdle.  Immigration at the airport.  People, there is NO END to the insanity in this country.  Mr. Immigration Officer thought he needed to pick apart the facts of our case and started asking questions. It took everything I had left in me to not jump across the counter and smack the guy.  But after his little interrogation he allowed us to go, making the comment that if we were taking Maggie, then he was going to keep one of our boys.  His attempt at being funny.  We were not amused.

And then we started counting MINUTES until our plane would leave, feeling like at any moment, some official would come and stop us for whatever reason.  Such an AWESOME feeling to be in the air, flying away with Maggie safely between us.

She was not feeling the relief/freedom/excitement, however.  All she cared about was the stupid seat belt and how it was RESTRICTING HER MOVEMENT and was determined to let the entire plane know about it.  Flying = NOT HER THING.  Mark and I were totally beat after hour one.  And we had about 38 hours left.  Our itinerary?
Uganda to Ethiopia - 2 hours.
Layover of an hour and a half.
Ethiopia to Rome - 5.5 hours.
Gas stop of an hour and a half (couldn't get off the plane).
Rome to Washington DC - 9.5 hours.
Get processed through customs - MUCH more pleasant experience in this country - WOW.  Can hear "Proud to be an American" playing in my mind.
Layover of 5 hours, in which Maggie consumes her first Starbucks.  CAN. NOT. TELL. YOU. how unbelievable that tasted after 2+ weeks.  Liquid gold, people.
Washington DC to Denver - 3.5 hours.
Layover in Denver of 1.5 hours.
Denver to Rapid City - 1 hour.  In which Maggie threw up all over her "coming home" outfit.  Turns out her stomach didn't appreciate the tiny turbo-prop plane bouncing around - can't say I blame her.
Walked off the plane in Rapid City and I fell apart.  In front of family, friends AND a professional photographer waiting for us.  Oy vey. One of my finer moments, captured in megapixels to be treasured always.
I had reached my breaking point.  Coming off that plane, after everything we'd been through to bring us to this point, was overwhelming to say the least.
Thankfully, I wasn't the only one.  Many tears were shed.  There were some beautiful moments, watching our family and friends meet Maggie, touch her and hear her, after their hundreds of prayers for her.  Having a front row seat to prayers being answered is a powerful thing.
So we stood in the airport and laughed and hugged and cried and hugged some more, and then moved the party to McDonalds.
Yes, McDonalds.
The boys' request. :)  And after everything we have been through, the boys get pretty much anything they want these days.  (This will be short-lived, rest assured).

Then we came home to more surprises - a re-stocked refrigerator, meals in the freezer, a clean house, clean sheets, flowers, balloons, a beautiful banner welcoming Maggie home, and people willing to allow us to fall into their arms and just be cared for.  It was like Jesus was here welcoming us home Himself.

So we've been home a little over 48 hours and things are going as well as can be expected.  Maggie loved her room - my sweet family even filled her room with pictures of her with us, her with her friends at the orphanage and she was taken by all of it.  She seems to have made herself at home and we are attempting to settle into a routine.  One thing we've discovered is she LOVES puzzles.  And shoes.  And fruit.  And copying everything we say.  Reminded of how careful we have to be when we heard her saying "idiot."  Ooops. 

And so I will continue to record Maggie's adjustment to home, to us, to American life here on this blog.  Thankfully, (hopefully?) the stories will not be as crazy or adventurous  - however, we are 100% convinced that God has big plans for this little girl, considering this story so far, and so we will try to shepherd her story well.  It is our prayer that you have -and will- see HIM in our experiences and her life.  And we pray that someday, she will fully understand how deep and how wide and how vast her Father's love for her is.  He's not through yet!

Days 9 - 10

Thought I'd better post something since I didn't yesterday - it was a "down" day for us, which was nice.  It's amazing how much recovery time we need after each of these adventures.  We've decided we've aged at least 10 years on this trip.  Uff da.  :)  And Jack and Noah have probably aged at least 5.  They are amazing - a couple times Noah has talked us down out of a tree about one thing or another - he can be so level-headed and clear at times when we are not.  And we are watching Jack grow into a man each day - it's amazing and horrifying to me all at the same time.  His hands are huge, we can see the bone structure in his face changing and now Mark was pointing out the hair above his lip (!!) . . . and it's very obvious his voice is changing.  It tears at my heart!!  And speaking of hearts, God is doing something serious in his and I hope I live to see the day when it plays out - this boy has a HEART for Uganda and the people here.  It's something we can't even relate to, to be honest.  He told us tonight he's sad about leaving.  ?!?!?  And Mark and I are counting MINUTES, people. MINUTES.

So yesterday was HAIR day for Maggie!  Our maid, Shamim, who has become a friend to us, hooked us up with her hair gal, who came to the hotel to do Maggie's hair.  She arrived at 10 a.m., after traveling TWO HOURS to get here!  She left home at 8 a.m. and had to walk quite a ways to get to a boda boda, who brought her the rest of the way.  Then it took an hour and 45 minutes to do Maggie's hair (I have video - can't wait to show you - her hands seriously moved so fast you could hardly see them).  Guess what she charged us?  $16.  Is that insane or what??  We paid her much more than that because that seemed ridiculous to us.  She was thrilled.  And Maggie was too - we could tell she felt pretty special.  She was a CHAMP - sat there perfectly the whole time without ever fussing or fidgeting once.  I think she's been trained.  So this new 'do should last about 3 weeks -  then I need to figure out what to do next!  Ha!

Today we went into town - our last day with Hamza (aside from him driving us to the airport) - we had to drop off gifts at the law firm, get passport pictures of US for the airport (yes, ridiculous), then go to the embassy to pick up Maggie's visa, and then went shopping at an African craft market with our friends from TN.  Thankfully the embassy stop was quick - Mark was nervous about it because everyone here is on crazy high alert over this terrorist stuff.  Evidently Uganda has been put on notice that they are next, so security measures everywhere have gone into overdrive.  CAN'T WAIT TO GET OUT OF HERE.  Anyway, the kids and I all stayed in the car with Hamza down the street, while Mark went in and it only took him 10 minutes.

Then we got to shop.  However, not so fun with a 2 year old!  Who has never shopped!  And she is a shopper!  She wanted to check out EVERYTHING.  I would have loved to have spent hours there, but it wasn't possible.  We found some fun stuff - and Jack and Noah very carefully picked stuff out for their buddies (with their own money!), which was really cute.

I also posted many pictures today on the photo site https://5happycampers.shutterfly.com/pictures - you need to check them out and see Maggie's hair!  Oh and Jack wanted me to fill you in about his bedtime adventure - he walked over into their room to brush his teeth and we could hear him making these horrible noises - - he comes back looking FREAKED out and said there was a cockroach in their room.  Mark ran in with his shoes and killed it, but oh. my. word. people - it was huge.  First one we've seen here - this place is so clean and so well kept, so we were kind of surprised.  ICK.  Not sure if the boys will sleep tonight much.  :(  Jack searched the whole room, top to bottom, with a flashlight, so we're hoping that's the last one we see.  One thing we see a LOT of are tiny lizards (not in our room - outside) - they hang on the walls and ceilings outside, and they are CUTE.  Seriously!  Anywhere from 1-4 inches long and fast as the speed of light.  I also saw a bigger one at the pool one day - more like 8-10 inches long and BEAUTIFUL blue.

Ok that's it for now - except prayer requests!

1) Pray that we get through airport immigration with NO DRAMA.  That they won't even blink an eye at us!

2) Pray for our safety until we get out of here - we're watching our embassy warnings and not going near any likely targets, but prayers wouldn't hurt.

3) Pray we can ALL get some decent sleep on the plane - especially the 17 hour flight.