Born of the Heart: You Get What You Pay For

We just had to share with you about our safari adventure. As you might imagine going on safari in Africa is quite expensive, but if you're already here it seems like a sin not to try and fit one in. We want to be able to show Isaac pictures of himself experiencing Uganda with his family.

Bill and I are pretty good planners and very thrifty, we thought we found a way to make it happen on a very small budget. We had a great plan, we would travel between Christmas and New Years while all the offices are on holiday. We packed our bags and told our hotel we would be back on Monday night.

We were back home the very next night, out of money and full of stories. We could share a lot of details about how things didn't go quite as expected. I can't think of anyone back home that would willingly repeat our journey. However, I am glad we had the chance to go on such a rare trip as a family.

Instead of complaining, I want to share with you that in all things there is a reason to praise God. For me, it was a beautiful moment that happened after our meal Friday night. We found a very small place in the game park where people bring tents to camp and they had a small bar that cooked food and offered music. We were filthy, tired and frustrated but that didn't stop my children from lighting up the whole room by dancing to the music and laughing as they took turns jumping into my arms. We watched as the sun set over the Nile River and made new friends as more and more children came over to join my two in their silly games. Cara cried when we finally had to call it a night and head to where we were sleeping. She knew that she would never see those kids again and her heart was breaking. There are so many things we could have cried about that day but Cara cried out of her love for people and her gift of instant friendship and fun.

We DID in fact drive through the game park and managed to see animals. So in the end, it all worked out. However I'll quote Bill when he said "Let's let this trip be the hiccup in our Uganda journey. This can be the thing we look back about and wish it were different, but let's pray the rest of the adoption journey goes smoothly." Amen.