The Etc...

Remember this post, where I said I was going to Uganda to "visit Kelsey, volunteer with Sixty Feet, etc"? It's finally time to tell you what the "etc" is...

We're trying to adopt from Uganda! Yes, we are getting back on the adoption train for another trip around the world. We are going to try to bring home two children from Uganda, bringing us to a crazy five kids five and under!

At this point, we can't share many details at all. Uganda's process is quite different from Rwanda's, and so requires a great deal of sensitivity. There are also a lot of variables here, and things could work out totally differently than we hope they will.

We really feel that God is leading us down this road. While almost everything has been different this time around, one thing remains the same: God still desires to put the lonely in families, and it seems that once again He is allowing us to join Him in His work.

We made the official decision to adopt from Uganda in October, and have been working on it since. In fact, when I did the Goodbye, 2011 post and said we'd been fingerprinted "about four" times and had updated our home study, what I should have said is that we had been fingerprinted SIX times and updated our home study TWICE. And since then, we've been fingerprinted once more. Phew. Glad to get that off my chest. :) Anyway, we got our I-171H approval yesterday!

I'll share more about the fund-raising parts of this journey later (I know you're waiting for that fascinating post with bated breath)--this adoption will be about half the cost of Laina's, which is great. We won't be able to get grants this time (almost positively), which is not great.

We always knew we'd adopt again. We didn't know what it would look like, or when it would be, but we know the One who writes our story. And He is good. We hope and pray for a smooth, quick, easy adoption this time around (please!!), but we trust His hand regardless. We've got our eyes open this time--no rosy glasses here--which makes it a scarier step to take. But we also have Laina here now, in our arms and our hearts, reminding us daily that adoption, though it is so hard and painful, is also beautiful, redeeming, a blessing. We can't wait to have two more of those sweet blessings under our roof.

p.s. I haven't forgotten that I have still not blogged about much of my UG trip. I'll remedy that in the coming weeks--for my own remembrance if nothing else!