Pinch Me!

Did we really book airfare for 3 to Uganda this December?! What a week it has been of planning and preparing.

You did read that right, all 3 of us are going to Uganda. The decision was pretty immediate for Bill when he realized we would be traveling over Cara's 5th birthday, potentially Isaac's birthday AND Christmas. A family needs to be together for these things.

There were other factors in the decision to travel as a family as well. First, Cara is much older now than when we originally expected to travel. She is able to understand much more of this process and she has become very invested in her little brother. We spoke with several families currently in country or recently returned from country that highly recommended bringing children with you to Uganda. One family had traveled twice; once without their kids and once with their kids and they said it was so much easier on their family when the kids (similar in age to Cara) were with them in country.

We are not naive, we understand that this will NOT be a family vacation or relaxing by any definition of the word. We fully expect culture shock, temper tantrums, sleep deprivation, food issues, digestive issues, disappointments and craziness (and that's just what Lauren will experience, LOL) However, this adoption process is guaranteed to rock our world in ways we never saw coming. We might as well go all in right from the start.

We also hope this will help Cara and Isaac understand each other too. Cara is already thinking about how hard it will be to leave some of her favorite comforts behind and I was able to help her make the connection to how hard it will be for Isaac to leave his home behind to live with us. Cara has taken this thought to heart and she is fully engaged in making our home as safe and familiar for him as possible. She has even agreed that we should start cooking Ugandan recipes now to get used to eating with Isaac!

Cara is also old enough now that she might remember this trip as an adult. How wonderful will it be for her to have memories of where her brother came from that they can share together? Being in Uganda might also help Cara understand why Isaac will do some things differently than she does. Going to his world might help her know how to help him adjust to life here, or at least be a little more patient with the process.

We are also seeing an increase in the time families are staying in country. It is becoming less and less predictable to determine when we would be returning home. This would make coordinating life on two continents miserable. While we know our families would bend over backward for us to get Cara to school and take care of her while we are gone, we also know that we are going to need even MORE help when we get home. This way we can call in our favors during our time of greatest need without exhausting everyone we know in the process. Finally, if we are all together in country and they say two more weeks we can just go with the flow and continue working toward bonding as a family.

We promise to continue to keep you all updated as we go :)