2/2012 Due to the nature of adoption in Uganda (and, frankly, the occasional
craziness of the Ugandan adoptive community), I chose not to share any
details about our adoption while we were still in process. But because
this blog is the story of our lives... I want to go back and fill in
those empty spaces.
Hi Friends!
Thank you all so much for your precious words and encouragement and
prayers!! I see that Matt sent out a message that I'm here and met our
little M. He is a CUTIE. I am thankful for the sweetness of our first
moments, I'll treasure that memory (especially the fact that - since the
kids are dressed from a stack of clothes, whatever is on top - he was
wearing a pink and purple flowered shirt. :D)
I was very weepy
and emotional my first night - it was harder than I expected to arrive
here alone. But I've settled in, and made good friends with some of the
other volunteers at our babies home. There is one American girl, the
rest are Canadian, British and Dutch, and they've been delightful to me, helping
me learn the ropes (and bringing me to the internet cafe this morning.)
Meet with our lawyer later today - and probably get to postpone my
first boda ride, since the meeting is late enough that it wouldn't be
safe (...or it would be EVEN LESS SAFE than the very unsafe-ness it is
anyway. :D)
Would you pray...
...for my heart. The kids
here are very well taken care of, but you can see how starved they all
are for personal attention. They compete to get on my lap, yesterday I
had 6 kids climbing all over me, with M right in the middle trying to
push everyone else off.
...for our legal process. The reality that
the end of this journey is unsure is really in my face, now that I've
seen our little M. Pray that I'd trust the Lord no matter what, and not
live in fear.
...for extra capacity to love and serve, and wisdom as I interact today with the babies home administrator and our lawyer.
LOVE YOU ALL !!!!
*****
Writing on 2/28/2012... I am just sure that somewhere, in something I sent, I more fully described my first meeting with Micah Marvin. But I either can't find it or was just too jetlaggged and overwhelmed to describe it. So I'm going to share what I remember now - amazingly with Micah Marvin now sitting next to me as MINE.
I spent the first night in Uganda with my friend Brooke's cousins, Jesse and Amy. I woke up the first morning feeling absolutely horrible - I'm really surprised that I didn't throw up, because it felt imminent all morning. I went back to sleep while they all went to church - it was Sunday, July 31. I woke up feeling MUCH better, and we went to the Nakumatt Oasis (a place I'd later be very familiar with) for lunch. Then Amy drove me over to the babies home. We met Joel, the guesthouse manager (who is wonderful), and got me all settled in. Then we walked over to the babies home to meet Marvin. I was completely in a daze. It was before 3pm, and the kids were all asleep. Amy introduced me and told the Mamas that our family was hoping to adopt Marvin. The Mamas all clapped, hugged and kissed me, and told me I was very welcome. And they all called me "Mama Marvin", which I loved. Then they woke Marvin up and brought him to me - I felt bad that they'd woken him up, I didn't realize it was nap time. He was very sleepy and groggy, though, so he came right to me, and buried his head in my neck, nuzzling in. And Amy & I both cried.
I don't fool myself... he probably nuzzled into any neck offered to him when he first woke up back then. BUT I will say that to this day, this is still the first thing he wants to do when he wakes up. We call it "Micah's spot", and he nuzzles in there several times a day. Thankful that while I wasn't the only one then, I'm the only one now!
