It's little things like his medical report saying "he sleeps 12 hours a night and takes 3 naps a day." What you may or may not know is that I prayed to God often that my kids would be sleepers. Cara still takes at least a 2 hour nap every day (sometimes Mommy does too). I knew that was God's gift to me but since I am a sleeper a skeptic could pass that off to genetics. But my Simon is a sleeper too :) Or at least he has the potential to be one after he adjusts to life with new people in a new country. Another way I know this was a little love note for me from God is because the medical reports in international adoption are so bare. Most often you're lucky if you get one parents name, and the child's height, and weight. I have never heard of personality details being included let alone sleep details. For me it's just another way that God is saying "I have been listening and Simon is perfect for you."
We also found out this week that we just made the cut. We were #5 on the waiting list and they matched the first 5 families! I had been wondering how we got picked being so far down on the list. It's wonderful to know that no one was skipped and that so many families are experiencing this joy right now. Five families at once is unheard of in the Uganda program. It is still so new and so slow that up until this point no families have traveled together. In other programs, like China, they will release a large group of kids at one time and everyone travels together and has ceremonies and sight seeing opportunities as a group. This is not normally the case in Uganda. I will be staying in Uganda while we wait for the courts ruling on our guardianship (anywhere from same day to two weeks after we appear in court) and for the US Embassy to process Simon's visa (another two to six week wait). It is so great to know that there could be other families there with me. What a blessing to have people there who know exactly what we're going through as we go through it!
I also think this is a particularly special thing because I would love to stay in contact with these families and give Simon the opportunity to reconnect with children from his orphanage. I know they will understand each other in ways that we never will be able to understand. What an incredible gift!
Simon already feels like a part of our lives. Cara talks about him often and we are doing our best to prepare her for what it might be like to finally have him home.
Last year Cara made the star on the left for her room. This past week we went back and made Simon the blue one for his room :)
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Please continue to pray for us as we prepare. We have one final grant application set to be reviewed in August (so far we have been denied from 6). It would be incredible to receive this grant and have some of the financial burden relieved. There is a cheesy Christian saying "Where God guides, he provides" but we have found this to be so true and we are once again trusting Him with the little we have to do big things.
We are also in the process of planning two different fundraisers. As much as we need the money, we see these more as opportunities for friends and family to be apart of this incredible journey. If you have gotten this far in life and still feel like you haven't seen God or heard from him, we offer you this chance to be apart of something amazing that God is doing in a little boys life (not to mention a front row seat hear about all the ways his parents are being stretched and strengthened).We hope to host another pancake breakfast in August before the college students leave as well as put on a Broadway Cabaret night in (hopefully) July featuring some of our incredibly talented friends and family members. Please pray that we find a location for each of these events (even better if the locations are free!)
Thanks again for "listening" :)
Lauren
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