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2013 in Pictures

2012 in Pictures

Happy Micah Day!

1 year ago TODAY Micah and I landed in Omaha, were reunited with Matt and Luke, and introduced Micah to Tobin... As well as two sets of his grandparents, one of his aunts, two cousins, and special friends.

I was so thrilled to be home...to have our family together, and to begin the adventure of learning to be a family of five.

In case you're wondering... We don't use (or care for) the term "gotcha" day. It's pretty common in adoption circles, but many adult adoptees find it offensive (because to many it implies the idea that children are commodities, things to be "gotten.") I think as adoptive parents, we are wise to listen to the voice of adult adoptees (even when it isn't what we want to hear). 

You, of course, are welcome to refer to your child's homecoming as anything you please. But for our family, this is Micah day, or Family day, or Micah's homecoming.

We also had about 4 different choices of dates... I first met Micah on July 30... Matt & Luke met him on October 31. We were granted guardianship on November 9. But we decided that the date when Micah and I arrived in the US and the five of us went HOME together is our favorite.

We are celebrating Micah today, and giving thanks for every moment of this last year. Praise God from whom all blessing flow!

Click here if you want to see more pictures of our homecoming day, and arrival at the airport.

Capture Gratitude: October

"Through Him then, let us continually offer up a 

sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips 

that give thanks to His name."

Hebrews 13:15

Oh, it was a GOOD month. And we're definitely in the part of 2012 when I every moment reminds me of where we were in 2011. So much to be thankful for!

181. FALL = LEAVES
Tobin spent September WAITING for the leaves to start falling. As soon as leaves fell, out came the rakes. T & Micah entertained themselves for hours last month raking leaves into piles. WIN.

182. CELEBRATIONS
Nothing like ice cream to celebrate hard work at school. We let Tobin get a waffle cone...which ended up being almost as big as his head. He was THRILLED.

183. TIME WITH MY BIGGEST BOY
This is more hit or miss than I like... But I am really trying to spend one-on-one time with Luke. With 2 smaller brothers, and a busy schedule of his own, I feel like this is hard to come by. If I don't have meetings on Friday afternoons, I like to pick him up from school and go grab some coffee/hot chocolate with him. We like to play a game or something...but this particular Friday was the week before our retreat in Colorado, and I had a TON of preparation to do. So Luke read for school while I worked - and it was still a sweet time. Plus: Pumpkin Scones.

184. BABIES
One of my very dear friends got married, being pretty sure that she could not have biological children. It's a long story, but the happy ending is that at the beginning of October, this little pumpkin was born. I LOVE HER.

 
And a few weeks later... What a CUTIE.

185. FAMILY TIME
Matt's Dad & Stepmom (Omi & Opi!) came down for dinner and doughboys. Yay!

And then the next week, we headed out to Matt's mom & stepdad's (Grammie & Papa!), for Sara's birthday. Yay for fun times with our sweet Nebraska family!

And lest I present a too-perfect picture of my boys... Please don't be fooled. Check out the middle school boy shenanigans.

186. FOOTIE PAJAMAS & CORN HEADS
If you've been reading my blog for long, this first picture needs no words. I love footie pajamas.

187. REACH REATREAT/COLORADO
One of the highlights of our Fall is the retreat we take students on every October, to a lovely camp near Estes Park, CO. It is beautiful, and the Lord is always SO GOOD to work in us and in our group during our time there.

This year was especially rich... It was a crazy retreat, everything we planned got unplanned and had to be replanned. And while we started off thinking our numbers would be severely limited, it ended up being the biggest trip we've ever done (EIGHTY women. Eight-Zero. That is a lot of women.)

188. COMING HOME
We had a WONDERFUL time in Colorado, and I am so thankful to get to do what we do with college students. But it was SO GOOD to come home to our boys.

189. HALLOWEEN
Last year we were in Uganda, which was lovely. But it was awfully nice to be home for the whole American shebang. And getting to introduce Micah to it all was a DELIGHT.

For more Halloween fun, click here.

Looking back...

I mentioned in this week/month's Capture Gratitude post that this time of year has been very poignant, as every date reminds me where we were this time last year. It really is amazing to look back and remember all the Lord did in our time in Uganda.

On November 8...

It’s official…he’s OURS. WHOOP! And we should get the written ruling TOMORROW.

People. This is record time. I can hardly believe it. Praise the LORD for His mercies. (On the other hand, I keep expecting the other shoe to drop. Why do I always assume the Lord will chose the harder path for me? I totally trust Him to provide completely for me on whatever path He chooses, but I just expect that it will be the harder path.)

You can pray we’d get the written ruling as planned…for the visa process (even after we have guardianship, we still need permission to bring M into the states. And it feels like they are changing the rules even while people are in the middle of the process (change for the better, but it’s still hard when you’re told one thing at the beginning, but then get caught up by something new.) I am almost positive that our case still follows all the rules. (but see what I mean about waiting for the other shoe??)

You might also pray for wisdom… It’s possible that I could come home (with MM!!!) much earlier than my originally planned flight on 12/4. That’s going to be a lot of decision making with Matt & I continents (and 9 time zones) apart. We’ll be weighing the cost difference between staying (once MM & I move away from the babies home, it will cost us $50/night, plus any travel/food) and the cost of changing my ticket (I get one free change, but have to pay the difference in fare, if it’s a higher fare.) We also have to purchase a 1 way ticket for MM and make sure he can get on all the same flights as me – this is why we’re using a travel agent, and not booking ourselves.

More later, along with some adorable pictures I took today before we headed to court! Oh, and speaking of court… We were there by 12:30 and didn’t leave until 7:30…another marathon day. This time they had us sit/wait in the actual judges chambers hearing other cases. It was really interesting, but also hard as lots of hard/private details were shared. I prayed and prayed for the other families there, especially as hard things in their cases surfaced.

 

On November 9...

My boys just left and I'm cheering myself up by reading all of the sweet notes and celebration from everyone. My heart is really touched, for our family, but also for our little guy, who is already SO LOVED. Thankful.

Matt & Luke said goodbye to all the babies today...and "SEE YOU SOON!" to Micah Marvin.

And y’all. Luke was so sad to leave Micah Marvin. It’s really sweet. I’m hoping it won’t be long at all before they are together again!!

We got to take MM out today – our excuse was to take passport photos, which I needed 4 more of – but we also took the time to enjoy a couple of hours away from the baby home with our sweet boy. We also had lunch at the most American place here, burgers and fries. It was yummy!

Some things to continue to pray for…
… Lord willing, I’m picking up our written ruling tomorrow. Pray it would be ready as promised? And pray God would give me wisdom with any financial requests our lawyer makes. Also, please pray for safety as I’ll be carrying a lot of money.

… Friday morning I’ll drop off our ruling and LOTS of forms. Please pray that I have everything I need, and for a speedy visa process!

… Would you also pray for Micah Marvin’s heart, as I begin to transition him out of the orphanage and to family life? If we’re able to get our written ruling tomorrow…drop everything off at the embassy Friday…there’s a chance I could get my exit interview next week or early the following. I’m going to try to move away from the babies home a week to 5 days before leaving the country.

…. Will you pray that the Lord would BOND Micah Marvin to me, and me to him, that he would begin to feel safe and secure, that his fears of abandonment would surface so that I can address them, and that the Lord would love MM through me. Pray also for wisdom to recognize and empathize with his struggles, plus patience, and strength for me.

This traveling/legal part of adoption is the kind of obvious battle, the one that’s exciting to live and watch… But in many ways, the battle for MM’s heart is just beginning. I am super excited to allow the Lord to use us to love and teach MM what it means to have a father and mother, to be a brother, to live in a family…to teach him how to love and be loved. But I know that it will be hard, so I covet your prayers for that process…we NEED the Lord to go before us!!

Now rather than sitting around feeling lonely, I'm going to watch a movie on my computer and knit. By myself. Once we get home, who knows if I'll ever get a minute to myself again, so I'm going to try to ENJOY however long I have here .

You guys are the best. SERIOUSLY.

 

November 10

So… Still waiting. We do have a signed written ruling, but there was an error in the guardianship order (which is usually signed at the same time by the judge?) Our lawyer waited until 8:30 Tuesday night hoping they’d reprint it so the judge could sign it then, but the clerk was tired. Sigh.

I have several of the important papers I need to take to the embassy…but can’t go without the signed ruling, and Micah Marvin’s passport. Which we’re also waiting on – there’s some sort of hold up in the passport office (this is a Ugandan passport.) Our lawyer is hopeful she can get both tomorrow, and I can pick them up Monday morning. Since I can only go to the embassy between 7:30 – 11:30 MWF, it seems like a lot to hope that I’ll be able to pick those things up AND get over to the embassy Monday morning…but we’ll see!

Will you pray for each of those things (the guardianship order…the passport…and also the release I need from the babies home, which I have, but need to get signed…) 

I would love to have all of those things and be able to go to the embassy Monday morning (especially since I’d been hopeful that I could go tomorrow.) But also pray for my heart to REST. Just knowing it’s possible to happen quickly gets my hopes up and makes me anxious for MOVEMENT, and to begin to plan (you know I love having a plan!) But this is Africa (TIA!), and I want to rest and enjoy, not be driving myself crazy trying to be in charge of things and people I’m certainly not in charge of!

The very good news is that I did not have to go with a driver or a boda boda (motorcycle taxi) to my lawyer’s office… My sweet Ugandan friend Susan, who is on staff with Navigators at a university right near the babies home, came and picked me up. Susan is one of those friends whom I’ve only spent a little time with, but we just connect, and have SO MUCH in common, despite being from such different places. It’s also great in the midst of such different service/ministry from what I’m used to – to take a little break from loving babies to talk college ministry. So fun.

We had a wonderful chance to catch up and visit while we waited to meet with my lawyer. I was not very excited about going to the office by myself today, or traveling with all that money… so getting Susan’s call and offer of a ride was like a surprise gift from the Lord!!

That was my afternoon…so refreshing! But I do feel like I’m getting a cold. I feel tired and my throat hurts. One of the kiddos in M’s class was puking up his guts this morning (multiple times right next to me), so I decided I’d better rest this afternoon. I’m going to go over in a bit and help with dinner and the changing/bath/bed routine (otherwise known as the wet naked babies game), and to see my little guy for a bit more!

I did have a lovely morning (if you don’t count the vomit…which you never should, obviously.) I went over for the 7AM shift, and heard morning devotions (the mamas sing praise songs to a big drum and pray and have a Bible message every morning…I LOVE hearing people sing in another language, particularly worship :D), then helped to get the kids bathed and changed for class. After they got settled in class, I came back and had breakfast and some devotional time myself. Then I went back over and helped with snack and the second part of class. They had a Ugandan man come in with a guitar and sing for them (so wish I could record the kids saying 'guitar' with their little accents – geeTAR!)

 
It was fun in the toddler room (M’s class), the kids LOVE to dance, especially our little guy! Then we took all the toddlers and the geeTAR man over to the baby room so everyone could enjoy. That got a little nuts (probably 40 kids under the age of 3?), but I just sat down and let the ones who always want to be held crawl all over me. I did snatch up one baby, so I got some good baby time, which I don’t often get, since I’m always with the older group. By this time (I’d been with them for over an hour), MM was happy to dance and play, just checking every now and again to see if I was still there. When I first show up, he clings to me and wants to be held…after I’ve been around for a while he moves on to play on his own, but I like that I catch him checking to see if I’m still around. Sometimes if he sees I’m holding someone else, he comes over and claims his spot with me, but today he was having such a good time shaking maracas and dancing, he was OK with everyone else getting a turn with me.

We sang “You are my Sunshine” for probably 10 minutes, it was so fun, and brought back fond memories of my friends Jessica and Dionna . Then we sang a bunch of Christmas songs, and any other songs the man could think of in English (for the toddlers, he sang in Luganda…don’t know why). After he left, the mamas played the drums again and we sang, among many other things, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” HILARIOUS. I love that song.

 ***

I'm going to continue to share what I was going through this time last year, from my super-secret prayer warrior facebook group. But for now, you can know that getting our ruling so fast was a false promise as far as getting us home faster went.... I went through the "you'll get your passport in 2 days" routine until the END of November. 3 weeks. I won't share all of those updates because many of them are basically, "Still waiting. More vomit." That about sums it up! It seemed so long at the time, but now I miss Uganda so much. 

Trick or Treat!

It has been brought to my attention by several family members that I have not shared our Halloween festivities. I did in fact share them on Facebook...but not everyone dear to us is on Facebook (Hi Zoo! And Opi & Omi! And Grandma & Grandpa!), and even those on Facebook don't...um...really understand how to use it? So they only see things I tag them in (Hi too-many-parents-and-other-relatives-to-name! At least for my mom, our friend Cindy tells her what I'm doing on Facebook, so she keeps up!)

So...for the facebook challenged... Here is our Halloween Hoopla!

First of all... While I LOVE fall, I'm not really a fan of lots of aspects of Halloween. We love dressing up and trick-or-treating (or going to our church's Halloween party), but I don't let the kids dress up as anything gross, evil, or scary. I do however, like to do LOTS of things leading up to Halloween, so the kids get opportunities to wear their costumes and enjoy more than just one night. We usually do a pumpkin patch (not in costume), and Boo at the Zoo. This year we didn't do anything other than the fall/pumpkin related things at the apple orchard, and I'm paying the price. If you ask Micah how he liked Halloween, he says, "I GO AGAIN!?!" And Tobin would NOT stop talking about how he was so sad that Halloween was only one day. It does help that we got some good deals on costumes at the after-Halloween sale, so they have dressed up every day this week. BUT next year, I want to do at least one other costume activity ahead of time... My vote is for what my neighbor did this year, Boo at the U: Halloween with the University Equestrian Club. The horses were in costume. How awesome is that??

We did take the time Monday night to carve pumpkins, which the boys LOVED.

Last year: Meeting in Uganda. This year, carving pumpkins together!

I wasn't sure how this would go over, since when I came home with the pumpkins, Tobin claimed his and insisted that we would NOT be cutting "her" open. Oh dear. But when the time came, he was pretty happy to give her a scary face.

 Luke did a great job with his giant pumpkin, and Matt did Micah's. I drew Tobin's face, but he wanted to cut most of it out himself. He did over-cut a few times, but I think it came out super cute. And there weren't even any tears when we needed to throw the pumpkin babies out. My tender hearted one is growing up!

So once Halloween rolled around, we got our traditional jack-o-lantern pizza from Papa Murphy's (a DEAL at $8, it's take and bake, so you can pick it up earlier in the day and have it ready when you want it.)

Then the little boys got suited up, while Matt drove Luke to the middle school skate party. We had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle....

 And a cowboy on a horse. If you're keeping track, this is not the first time you've seen this costume. Or the second. I have gotten more mileage out of this after-Halloween-sale purchase from 4 years ago....

 I would have shelled out for a new costume for Micah's first Halloween...But little bit is OBSESSED with horses, "My Horsey Favorite." He was THRILLED, nothing I bought new would have made him this happy.

It was lovely weather, and we went trick-or-treating with our fun neighbors. Good times.

Laying in the loot!

Meanwhile, Luke was skating with the middle school group from church. He didn't want to get a costume (I think he'll want to next year...he doesn't like depending on the sharing kindness of others, as far as candy goes.) But when the night rolled around, he decided to dress up. Tobin followed him around asking, "What are you supposed to BE?"

 Afro-Circus Mardi Gras Fairy?

Happy Fall, y'all!

Capture Gratitude: September

 Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.

Still getting caught up from my blog break... Should be back to weekly Capture Gratitude next week! If I were guessing ahead, I'd think you might see a bit of fall color in that, because the leaves are turning and I am HAPPY.


170. THE LINCOLN FARMERS' MARKET
Going to the Farmers' Market is one of my favorite things to do here in Lincoln. Unfortunately, while my boys are willing to go, they don't exactly make it super enjoyable always (they like about the first 4th of it, then the complaining starts.) Between that and Luke's summer basketball schedule, last month we went for the first time this year. I think it's more enjoyable if I go with friends...but it's fun to go as a family too. I love it, at least!

171. HUSKER FOOTBALL
This hardly needs any explanation, right? My family is nuts for Husker football. We watch a lot of games out at Matt's mom's house (because they're often on channels we don't have). But for the first game we were able to watch at home, Luke got REALLY into it. He was being all secretive, and then brought me downstairs to unveil the Husker-ized basement. Love. It.

172. GOOD NEIGHBORS
So thankful for our awesome neighbors, plus more time to spend with them.

173. THE LINCOLN CHILDREN'S ZOO
Along with our good friends Julie & Jonathan (Tobin's little best bud), we were able to get in one last trip to the zoo this month.

Yay for the butterfly tent! Micah was not interested in letting a butterfly land on him. Although he did try to stomp on them (oops.)

And of all the wonderful things at the children's zoo, playing in the big pile of dirt is at the top of the list...

Along with the train, of course.

174. MORE BROTHERLY LOVE
I just can't get enough of scenes like this.

And this, which is how I found the boys one morning when I came back from my run:

175. REMINDERS ON THE ROAD
My friend Susie has a collection of heart shaped rocks that's she has found on various runs and walks. She is always on the look out for them, as reminders of God's love for her. I was thrilled to find this little reminder of my own.

176. FIELD TRIPS
On our leaf unit, we visited Pioneers Park Nature Center, which was so much fun. Our friend Esther came with us - this was the week before she left for Spain, so our last hang out time with her.

Tobin was enchanted with Jake the Bull Snake. And he asked the Park worker about 800 questions. The poor man could hardly get 3 words of an answer out before there was another question. But he was super patient, and even told Tobin "that's a good question" when Tobin asked how Jake pooped.

I love fall.

177. SARAH TIME
Many of you know that the year before we brought Micah home, I worked an extra job to help pay our adoption expenses. It was the best job ever: We baby sat for our friends Brooke & Cody, whose daughter Sarah was adopted from the same babies home as Micah. It was great preparation for us, and helped them out in their first year home.

And the Lord worked the timing out perfectly. Just as we were headed to Uganda for court to bring Micah home, Brooke was able to quit her job and stay home with Sarah herself. Wonderful...except we really miss our "Sarah days", as Tobin used to call them.

Well this past week we got to have Sarah days again, while Brooke was on a mission trip in Uganda. SO much fun!

178. THIS CHILD AND AIRPLANES
I really wonder if Micah hadn't had such a significant life change involving a long plane ride...would he still be this obsessed with airplanes? I know lots of boys like them, but I swear, it's different. The child can hear and see airplanes that no one else notices. And he notices every.sing.one.

Imagine his delight when we took our friends to the airport and he got uninterrupted time to watch airplanes. For the most part, they just sat there. And he was happy just watching them sit.

179. GOODBYES
I've often said that college ministry only has one downside, but it's a heck of a downside: You give your hearts to people for 4+ years, and then they leave you. Over the years I've had lots of goodbyes, and lots of airport "see-you-next-year!"s. I try to remind myself that it's better to care and hurt than not to care at all - I'd rather give my heart than not. Plus: we WANT to be senders.

So it was our privilege to drive our Esther to the airport as she and our good friends Alexis and Amy head off to teach in Spain for the year. Amy & Lexi's families drove them, but Esther's parents are in Colorado, so we got to be the stand-ins.

The girls and their sisters (well...one of Esther's sisters.) Watching these sisters say goodbye about did me in!

It was a precious time to pray with their families and entrust them to the Lord. And it reminded me of so many sweet memories in IAH (Heidi, I'm looking at YOU!)

180. SHOPPING WITH MY BIG BOY
This summer Matt & I made a conscious effort to spend time alone with Luke, which was really good (considering that he just doesn't get much attention with all the other attention-getters around here.) Now that school has started, that has been a lot harder. I can tell that we need to be more intentional about this... in part because Luke was THRILLED that I picked him up from school last Friday to take him fall/winter clothes shopping just the two of us. He is really a different kid when it's just the two of us, and I love it. He is really funny.

Case in point: Look what he found for $2.16:

One of the things we did together this summer is watch episodes of White Collar together. So Luke is pretty excited about his Neil Caffrey hat. Parenthetically, he's decided he wants to be an FBI agent, which I also love. I just found out they're streaming ALIAS on Netflix now, so I'll probably have him ready to work for the CIA in a month or so. Though likely he'll find Sidney Bristow not quite as slick and cool as Neil Caffrey. (For those just tuning in to my life: Alias is my all time favorite TV show. I love almost anything spy related.)

Micah makes a pretty cute Neil Caffrey too, don't you think?