3 day Marathon!

We have a busy 3 days ahead of us, before the bulk of my family leaves and returns home on Thursday night, and my parents show up a few hours later to stay with me until our adoption  paperwork is wrapped up. 

Today we will spend the day with our friends from Watoto.  We will go to the village (about an hour outside of town) and give hugs, American candy and cards.  Our friends, who stayed with us when they were on choir tour in the states, are at two different villages on opposite sides of town, so this will be an all day (and long anticipated) adventure.   

Tomorrow we will all head to Jinja where we will see the source of the Nile and some of the beautiful waterfalls.  (We also hope to see some Lions and leopards too!)

And then Thursday, we will wrap up any last minute visits to the market and pack everyone’s carryon’s to head home.  We came with 17 fifty pound bags and will return with 1 small carry on per person.  You should have seen the back of Uncle P.K.’s truck when we showed up to the airport, it was almost overflowing!  We had so many bags, thanks to the generosity of so many people;

Thanks to the children of the 2009 Westminster Pres Vacation bible School who gave  much needed, toiletries, children’s shoes & underwear, school supplies, and  towels & sheets as a part of their mission that year.

Thanks to the multiple families who have given my children so many “hand-me-downs” over the years that we are able to pack our bags full of children’s clothing to leave for the children at Joshua’s Orphanage (and still have clothes at home!) The  Martins, VanWinkles, Scotts, , Winetrouts, Bloomquists, Jacksons, and I’m sure  more that I am forgetting (sorry)!

Thanks to the individuals who supported our family financially through purchasing my girls handmade “Mustard Seed” Jewelry! (That sure was an amazing and humbling miracle that God preformed through my children!  For those who don’t know, our children wanted to come with us to Uganda to welcome their new brother into the family, but we did not have the 8 thousand extra dollars it would take to purchase their plane tickets.  So our daughters said “We’ll raise the money selling earrings! You have always said God still woks miracles, even through kids, why wouldn’t this work?”  Never wanting to say the word “impossible” to our children we cautiously told them “All right, you can try, but don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t work out the way you hope.”  They made and sold over 300 pairs of earrings and God provided $8,500 through the generosity of His people!  Thank you & Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow!)

And most importantly, thank you to the people who have prayed us through this journey!  We are convinced that without the prayers that have lifted our family up over the last year and a half, we would not be in the same blessed position we are in now. We are humbled and grateful beyond description!

Thank you to all of you who continue to lift us up in prayer!  If you are so moved, please continue to pray for safe travels for my family as they come and go from this place this week and for documents needed to complete the adoption to fall into place at record speed. (He still works miracles!)