Silent Prayer Answered

Just before Christmas I was laid off. Why I was laid off is a long story for another day. I started making phone calls and interviewing the very next day and on the December 16th, two weeks after losing my job, I was offered a new position with an amazing company.

That certainly was a prayer answered but it would not be the only prayer to be answered this Christmas season.

We received notice in early December from USCIS that we were to appear for our biometrics (fancy word for more fingerprinting). Not having a job made pursuing an adoption unrealistic and my heart was heavy. However, we already paid for the I600a and not showing up for the appointment would have been a waste of the money. I prayed daily leading up to the appointment telling God that I believed in His will and that I would serve His children in any way I was called even if that meant that we wouldn't be bringing home a child to our family.

December 21st arrived and we went early in the morning for our appointment. Todd went first and with his fingerprinting complete, he left to run errands with the kids. I went next and finished my fingerprints a few minutes later.

As I left the office and walked to my truck I said the simple prayer I have been saying over and over for months, "God this is all in your hands and I trust in your plan. I know it was you calling us to care for orphans and I will do whatever it is that you ask of me....even if it means we're not adopting....I will patiently wait for your plans to be revealed."

I got in my truck, started my car and turned my phone's ringer back on. My status line was showing I had just received my daily verse from the app Daily Bible. I tapped on the icon and the day's verse read.

And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

                                               Matthew 8:15

I can't remember a time that I received a more clear cut, timely and direct answer to a prayer before that morning. I believed before that we were answering a call from God but now I hold on to that answered prayer knowing that in His time we will be called upon to say yes to a child who deserves to grow up in a family.

When God Says Wait......

What do you do when God tells you to wait? Do you tell Him you don't have time to wait? Do you tell Him waiting is not convenient right now? Do you try to convince Him that your plan to hurry up is better than His?

Maybe you do all these things but ultimately you still must wait, we all must wait. But does God mean for us to be idle while waiting? I doubt that very much.

My job situation is very tenuous at the moment. Find me someone in the US who thinks they have job security.  I need to figure out my job situation or we will not be able to pursue this adoption at this time. Fortunately, I am frantically looking to fix this situation but while I do that I'm asking myself what God wants of me right now. I can't seek new job opportunities all day and night. So what does He want me to do or to discover during the time I'm not out solving employment issues?

I KNOW that he did not put the conviction of adoption into my heart so that when an obstacle came along impeding it I would be able to justify abandoning His idea. I use all capitals on the word know because I KNOW in every cell of my being that God wants me to go to Uganda. I KNOW that God has planned for a specific child for our family who is waiting. I know this like I know I am mother. I can't be convinced I'm not a mother; I am a mother. I know this like I know my eyes are green. They are green. I know we're going to Uganda to adopt. We are adopting because God told me so.

But until then? Get your house in order, girl! Here's a partial list of my to-do's. Some of them trivial, yes, some of them just huge looming to-do's that I hate thinking about.

• Strip and seal the stone in the shower. DONE
• Create family budget and ways to save. DONE
• Sell furniture from business. Working on it!
• Input 2011 bank statements into Quick Books. Ugh!
• Write (yep, I'm writing a book!)
• Get the kids teeth sealed and get Kate's glasses ordered...believe me, this has been on the list for a while
• Clean out the kids bedrooms. Ick!
• Write thank you cards to those who have supported our adoption.
• Support others who are a step ahead of me in their adoption process.

I'd love to hear what other mothers are doing during their wait. Tell me what things you put on your list or checked off a long overdue list.

You've Got Mail

It's hard to describe the joy of a new message in the inbox of a waiting adoptive mother. I created an email account just for our adoption related emails and have it set up to forward to my phone. I check it a million trillion times a day.

I check it when I'm with clients. I'm not Kardashian obnoxious about. Luckily I do some of my work behind a laptop so I can take a quick peep down at my phone to see if any new emails have come in. I check it in the car. Gasp! Who could resist? I check it first thing in the morning. I refresh all day long. Then I check real quick before I go to bed.

Once in a glorious blue moon I actually get an email. And that is enough to make my day. Or night. I don't even have to open the email. Just seeing the (1) next to the inbox is enough. It's too new an email address to receive spam yet so every (1) means something related to our adoption.

So today at 3:30 am when I couldn't sleep, I gave up trying and came in here to work and then got sidetracked looking in my inbox. (Yes, I am the person they are writing about in articles detailing the do's and don'ts of being productive.) I decided to try emailing the attorney we would like to work with. I've emailed her a few times in the past with no luck. She comes highly recommended and is very busy. So I've been waiting.

I sent her a quick email and then went to Facebook. Ha. Yep, right next to my home computer is my work laptop. The laptop is screaming at me to finish the work I need to do before going into work this morning. But Facebook is so much more fun.

After FBing for a while...did you know there aren't that many people on FB at 3:00 am? Anyway, after FBing but before going to 'work' I decided to check my email real quick. Pay dirt. Ten minutes after I sent the email off to the attorney, we struck gold and her assistant sent a response back.

I now have a better To Do list than the one that says "Finish work project by the time the work day starts." I printed her To Do list for a little later I am now going to finish my work project content that something very exciting happened already today.

Right after I finish blogging about it...........

Update: It's 6:49 am and I have 11 minutes until I wake our son up and we start getting ready for the day. I FINISHED my work, packed up my computer and it's sitting by the front door ready to go. I'm ready for the day and I won't miss those 4 hours of sleep.....much!

Why Should You 'Follow'?

Why should my friends, family and total strangers I don't know 'follow' our blog, sign up to 'follow by email' or bother commenting on our my posts? We'll in the words of my husband I'm an Attagirl girl.

Yep, I'm not too proud to admit it. I like Attagirls. I thrive on positive reinforcement and feel dejected and unworthy if I don't get my daily quota. My husband has learned over the years that a well timed, "Good job, babe" or "You got that done? You're awesome" will encourage more good behaviour plus it has an added bonus of an instant mood boost. Mine; not his. He has also learned that NO Attagirls will lead to a dark and unsightly place with no GPS.

This may be too much information into my psyche but, really, followers are great. What was the point in creating the blog to begin with? We created it to share our adoption experience, to chronical the journey, to educate others on the orphan crisis and, of course, to help us in part to fund the adoption costs. It's logical then, that the more people joining, engaging, asking questions, sharing ideas, and talking about our adoption, the more opportunity we'll have to accomplish our original goals.

Our followers are people who hopefully follow the blog on some type of regularity. But to guarentee you don't miss anything sign up to receive email alerts so when I post something new and wildly interesting you won't have to use your power of ESP to know I did it; somehow, you'll be sent the link to my latest post.

Comments could be another line of 'Attagirls' or it could be a useful tool for communicating like or differing points of view. You choose. I'll love 'em either way.

So that's my shameless plug. Thank you to the VERY lucky Original Twelve as I've taken to calling you. Well, one follower is me and the other is my husband so maybe I should change that to the Original Ten. Anyway, thank you to those who jumped on board while I'm still trying to figure it all out.

I'm challenging our readers to do all three today

1. Add your name to the Follow Our Blog section
2. Sign up to receive updates by adding your email to Follow By Email
3. Comment on this post

The Paper Trail

Today was a momentous day! I finally had the energy and the courage to face the mound of paperwork that needed to be done for I600a and for our lawyer.

The I600a goes to the United States Citizen And Immigration Service and is part of the process to certify that we are cleared (again) to bring a child from another country into the US. It is the form one fills out when a specific child has not yet been identified.

We will send that in tomorrow along with our hefty check of $890.  Once USCIS receives the paperwork and verifies that I haven't royally screwed anything up on the application, they will contact us with the exact day and time we are to have our fingerprints done (again). I am a bit nervous about this because I believe USCIS sets the appointment day and time....I'm not sure what happens to our regularly scheduled lives if we are not available at the appointment time. I'll leave this in the hands of the universe....
On the flip side, I believe the USCIS office we'll be directed to is very close to where we live...like 10 minutes away! I have heard of families who had to drive 6 hours! Ugh!

We need ONE MORE piece of documentation until I can send the paperwork to Uganda for our lawyer. We still need Todd's employment verification and we're all set. We hope that comes in this week and we can send the whole package to Uganda. Before we can do that, I will need to take that entire stack of paperwork, plus another 5 copies of our home study to the bank so that they can notarize everything as true copies. God bless Chase Bank...they will notarize for free for all their clients! Our banker did tell us to make an appointment if we were going to need 'a lot' of notarizing. Hmmm? Does that look like 'a lot'?

No money is required (I think!) for our lawyer to get started. She has stated she works on trust. Yay, because I have lots of it and I am trusting that this next phase goes smoothly so that we can then concentrate on finding our son.

Again, thank you to everybody who has prayed for our family and sent support so that we may continue on our path towards our adoption.

Emergency Trip to the Dentist

I was visiting a friend and her husband out of town this weekend. I called in Saturday night to check in on my husband and kids only to find the house in temporary crisis. Our middle daughter had just chipped her front permanent tooth on the bathtub. My husband was freaking out not very calm and my daughter was in hysterics.

I turned to Google and spent some quality time researching chipped teeth, broken teeth, kid's who are clumsy, etc. I needed to find encouragement that her tooth was fixable and that this was going to be okay. It was the only thing I could do from 2 hours away. I felt helpless and inadequate to help my daughter.

An hour later, I was armed with the information I needed to help my daughter long distance and called home again. I told my still crying daughter that I arranged my work day so that I could be at the dentist office first thing Monday morning, I told her they would fix it Monday then I'd take her to school after. By this time I felt 70% sure that what I was telling her was correct. If something happened and they couldn't take care of her Monday morning, I thought, we'll deal with that when we cross that bridge. My job was to help her through the next 36 hours.

Monday arrived and we were at the dentist by 9:30 and her tooth had been evaluated and was restored by 12:00. The entire time at the dentist, I was thanking God for our health system and our insurance coverage. I know how lucky we are to live in the United States and to have amazing health care coverage.

It got me thinking of Uganda, of course. What if a child chips his tooth in an orphanage in Uganda? Do people mobilize first thing on Monday morning to fix the tooth?  I bet with resources scarce, if the tooth is not bothering the child, as in my daughter's case, that little would be done.

I did some research and found that there are only 100 dental surgeons in Uganda – 80 of who work in Kampala. That’s 100 surgeons for nearly 34,000,000 people. I found organizations doing compassionate charitable work in Uganda but little in the way of sustainable, ongoing, and reliable dental services that would be available to the most needy of Uganda's people.

As I walk through my daily life, I measure my life as a mother in the United States to what it must be for a mother in Uganda. I often say a prayer for my blessings and for Uganda, that as it progresses in modernization, that the basic human services that we take for granted in the US are established in Uganda so that the millions of people living there will know the security that I know. I knew Saturday night that my daughter would be well cared for today. I want every mother in Uganda to have that same security. They deserve it.

Any News?

Nope.

No news.

We haven't heard anything and things have been very quiet on the adoption front. So quiet I'm starting to think the lull in the adoption process may be purposeful; designed by God to allow us to adjust and improve on ourselves, our schedules, our thinking, our faith.

While news from Uganda is slow our schedules here at home couldn't be busier, the kids are super involved with their school and activities and we are adjusting to my new work schedule. The whole family is starting to get into the rhythm of school and work. We finally have Google Calendar figured out and sync'd up to our phones. We actually sorta know who's taking which kids where and on what days.

Many times during this early fall, my husband has turned to me and said, "I'm not saying we shouldn't adopt...don't get me wrong. But how are we going to do this with four?" I smile.

It's a legitimate question but one I know will work itself out when the time comes. I remember thinking the same thing when I was pregnant with Number 1. How was I going to manage with a whole one baby? Then number 2 came and I worried incessantly over how I was going to get BOTH baby and toddler to the store by MYSELF. Then number 3 came along and by then I had pleasantly lost my mind and could handle all three kids under four with no sleep, one arm holding a babe and the other keeping two toddlers from running straight into traffic without breaking a sweat. Each time the answers came and we met the new demands together.

I am lucky to have an amazing husband who is hands-on. I'm the wife who is allowed to take a nap on the weekends if I need to or zone out once in a while on Facebook while he orchestrates dinner. On the other hand, he goes into the Man Cave when his day's been rough and I clean up and put the kids to bed. I'll also go to the store after the kids are asleep if he asks me very sweetly to get him ice cream (uh, who wouldn't?) We're a good team and I don't worry about another little babe running our lives.

So we wait. And we try to perfect what we have and who we are while God prepares our hearts and our home for our new son. I have complete faith that our family will be completed in His time and in His way.

We will keep you posted. Check back for updates.

PS One a side note, I have two friends who are in Africa right now bringing their new sons home this week. I have prayed for their families and it is so sweet to watch their stories unfolding. See, it just shows that it's not our turn yet. We can't all be there at the same time. Who would watch the Rangers?

New Way to Help

We have had a few comments from some of our friends and family about their reservations in using Pay Pal to gift our family with a donation for the adoption fund. While I am 100% secure in Pay Pal's ability to keep all transactions safe, I understand some people's uneasiness with a process they've never used.

I was speaking with my banker at Chase about my accounts and mentioned this challenge. He told me there is a very easy way to send money with Chase Person to Person Quick Pay. I have added a button on the side bar.

It is very simple to use and you can send money with this service even if you don't have a Chase bank account. You will need to create an identity and password. Then you'll enter our email address which is jeffreyfamilyblessingsatyahoodotcom (for spam reasons, people don't usually put actual email addresses on their blogs and websites, so use @ and . where appropriate or that dog won't hunt)

Once you enter my email address and follow the prompts, Chase will send me a notification that you would like to send money, I accept, and you'll be sent a form to fill out your routing number and the amount you'd like sent. Again, you do not need to have a Chase bank account!

That's it. Very simple AND Chase does not charge for this service unlike Pay Pal so 100% of your donation will go the adoption fund.

One last thing, some people just roll old school and want to send a check in the mail. Send me an email at the above address and I will happily send you our address.

With the adoption process moving along and our timeline inching closer to a referral and travel to Uganda, we are humbled by the outpouring of support and prayers for our family and this yet unknown little boy. Thank you to each and every one of you.

Update on our Winner

After announcing the Winner in our Give Away on Monday morning as Mrs. Dee S, I received a little note saying that it was her birthday.

Awwwww.......

How sweet that she won on her birthday! Happy birthday to you, Dee!

And thank you, again, for your support.

Thank you to everybody for your support. Without you, we wouldn't have the resources to bring home our little boy!

Giving Big Hearts of Kids

Reposted from Little Kids Big Faith

Our little Jack is turning into a surprising love bug. Surprising? Kinda, because he's Texas tough. But the other night he showed true compassion and a spirit of giving that touched my heart.

It all started with a few cases of Strep throat.

I understand that in households across America, moms succeed in achieving tidy, clean, efficient, beautiful bathrooms for their kids everyday. However, the truth for us lies somewhere between too small and close to HazMat dirty at times.

The three kids share a bathroom and we have had two rounds of Strep in the past three weeks. We decided drastic action was necessary.

The solution began with a trip to WalMart for handsaniter (hanitizer as we call it), antibacterial wipes, new toothbrushes, new toothpaste, and tongue scrapers. $100 later we were armed with what we thought would prevent the spread of this annoying and expensive infection.

Each child got his or her own drawer or cabinet to keep all their personal items. Gone were the days of every one's toothbrushes in the medicine cabinet. We sterilised the entire bathroom, gave a fresh new toothbrush and toothpaste to each child. Everyone got a new tongue scraper.

I was about to congratulate myself on my genius when I spied 87 six damp towels haphazardly hung on the towel rack. I saw with my naked eye every damp Strep cell dividing and spreading from towel to towel. No child of mine every cared if she was using her own towel or if he was, in fact, using the bath mat to dry off.

So our next step was to get out my favorite appliance of all time...my label maker! I threw all those nasty towels in the wash on hot, got out three fresh towels and labeled where each child would be hanging his or her towel for ever more.

Then the real genius hit and I called the kids in to show them my amazing work and to announce the World's Cleanest Kid in the Bathroom contest. Whoever could keep their personal space the cleanest for the next week, I proclaimed, would get the not yet decided upon secret PRIZE.

One week later, I was enjoying the cleanest bathroom of all time. If a child happened to leave his towel on the floor, well, I could tell in a millisecond whose towel it was. The personal drawer space was working like a charm and the kids were still enjoying the newness of the antibacterial wipes to clean the counter each night.

But why is this post called Giving Big Hearts of Kids? Because last night I announced the winner. Not wanting any 'losers' in my house but still wanting to promote a healthy sense of competition, I gave first, second and third prizes. Not really surprising to us, they won in birth order. Jack came in third. He had a couple of unfortunate mishaps in the bathroom but he still won a quarter. Layne, does exactly what she needs to get by but our first born, Kate does it with gusto. So Kate won a Dollar, Layne won Fifty Cents and Jack got a Quarter.

Then the sweetest thing happened when I tucked Jack into bed...."Mom, I want to give my Nickle (aka that quarter I just gave him) to the adoption fund."

Break my heart with pride at his love.

A Different Kind of Prayer

I have been praying a lot when I go to bed. My prayers are not what you might expect from a mother waiting to adopt a child. I do not pray for God to bring our son home quickly and safely. I feel selfish in that prayer and it weighs on me. Instead, I pray that whomever God chooses to bring into our family is safe tonight and happy and healthy.

When we get an email or phone call that a child is available for adoption, it will say one thing first, his family could not care for him. His family has made an excruciating decision and they are in pain for surely, no one leaves a child at an orphanage lightly. This boy will be forever changed by this event. It will follow him and change the trajectory of his life. He will wear this new identity forever and it will be our jobs as his new parents to make him whole again by providing a loving home where he can heal and grow and thrive. This is the job that our whole family will embark on, the kids included.

So tonight my prayer is this,

"Dear Lord, please watch over him and keep him safe.. whoever he is and wherever he is. Help me to remember that joy for us in expanding our family will mean heartache and uncertainty for our new son and his family. If there is a way for this child to remain with his mother, please Lord, help them find a way. If he must leave his birth family, help us to bring him home quickly so that he may begin to heal from his loss and grow into the man you intend for him to be.

In your loving name, I pray.

Amen"

I fret over praying just the right prayer. I know the Lord knows my intentions but I work on that prayer every night as I doze off to sleep. I want so badly to get the prayer correct. To put this boy's needs above mine, to put God's will above all and to be humble in my desires.

Winner!!!!!!!!!!

During September, the Jeffrey family sold pieces of our keepsake Puzzle to raise money for our international adoption. For every piece sold, we entered the donors once. Tonight the girls and I held the very official drawing (after negotiating who could do the actual drawing out of the bowl).

We have a winner!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations go to Mrs. Dee S. who won this little beauty from Noonday Collection. It is in the mail you, my friend!

Our fundraising efforts so far have earned us $1775.00.

In addition, we have managed to save an additional $1000.00. And we already paid for the home study, one round of fingerprinting, the doctor visits, and with the help of our mother in law we have our passports lined up. All total we have $2775.00 in the bank and have already paid $1400 towards previous adoption related expenses. We have accounted for $4175.00 of the $25,000.00 estimated for the cost for the adoption.

I'm no math wiz but that's about 1/6 of the way there. Not bad, I say.

Our family has committed to no dinners out, no fast food, no dry cleaning (as if...), no date nights (again, haha). We also renegotiated our cable and tv contract as well as our car and home insurance. And Layne, bless her heart, gave up a big birthday party out and instead had a few good friends over to the house to watch a movie, eat pizza and decorate cupcakes. Jack keeps coming to me with 'gifts' to sell for the adoption. It's heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time. His 'gifts' are scraps of paper with little drawings he did and perhaps a stray staple he managed to sneak on the paper or a small stray toy he found that he thought had great monetary value. We have no credit cards and both trucks are paid off. Amy is working overtime to earn a little extra here and there and in the words of Frankie, the mom from The Middle, "We're getting ahead of it!"  The efforts are paying off.

Thank you to everybody who has contributed to help bring a little boy home to a loving family.

Who is My Neighbor?

I have finished reading The Price of Stones by Twesigye Jackson Kaguri and I can now safely say I wholeheartedly recommend this warm and inspiring book based on the author's determination to open the first free school dedicated to HIV/AIDS orphans in Uganda.

Each chapter describes the long, difficult, and rewarding road to build the school from conception, to building, to sustaining and beyond to supporting the surrounding community. Twesigye - I'm now on a first name basis with him in my head - retells the story of the faith, and doubt, that led to this amazing school.  His faith is not unlike the rest of us. While he has a deep understanding of God's love and his own calling, he worries and doubts just like everybody.  Indeed, we see him fret over every dollar. Yet, when someone asks him for help he always responds with a yes then later worries about, prays about it, and sets out to find donations, and ultimately returns with the support time after time.

Part of his ability to successfully raise the needed funds for all the various projects he commits to is his ability to inspire others. I was particularly awed by his influence beginning on page 184 where he recounts a talk he gave at a new Adventist church.

'"Who is my neighbor?" I asked.

I began with the parable of the Good Samaritan, a story from the Book of Luke about an average man who aids a stranger left beaten at the side of the road. Two thousand years ago, Jesus had used this story to challenge the religious establishment of the day. I wanted to impel others to consider their responsibility to the community through a fresh perspective.

"This is a simple and yet most profound parable, " I said, glancing at some of the orphaned children in the room before me. "It can be applied to the HIV/AIDS pandemic that has claimed forty MILLION lives, turned fifteen MILLION wives into widows, and robbed fourteen MILLION children of their parents. The parable challenges us today to ask, "Who is my neighbor?" Is it only the person who lives in the house next to us? Is it only the people who attend our church? Is it only the people we know? What about the complete stranger who lives in the neighboring village? The stranger living in ANOTHER COUNTRY? The stranger living HALFWAY AROUND THE WORLD? Are they not our neighbors too?....

"Too often our beliefs do not translate into action," I said. "We are the ones who turn away from those in need."....

"As Christians, there are three things we can do," I said. "We can pray. We can give. We can act. Or we can do all three."...

When Jesus ended his parable of the Good Samaritan, he asked the holy man which of the three men had been a neighbor to the fallen man. The holy man replied that it was the man who had mercy on him. Jesus responded with his most powerful message.

"Go and do likewise."'

Twesigye Jackson Kaguri did the impossible with help from many people living on different continents and ultimately with the guidance of the Lord himself. He built a school, paid teachers, supported individuals, built water systems to supply clean water to the school and the village, provided medical care, fed the hungry, and loved the people he was committed to wholeheartedly.

Our family has but one goal. To bring one child into our loving family. Our goal seems so small compared to what Twisegye accomplished; yet, to that one child it means his whole life. To us, it means completing our family. Who knows how God will call us as we progress on our journey. As The Price of Stones showed, the needs will always be there and the only way to start truly solving the orphan crisis is by Action.

If you would like to support us in bringing our little boy home you, too, can do one of three things. You can pray for us. You can donate to the adoption fund making it possible to pay the necessary expenses in this long journey. And you can act by becoming an advocate for the widow and the orphan. Or, you can do all three. I urge you start with prayer and ask God to help those in their calling and ask Him how you can serve. He will reveal to you a path beyond prayer into Action, I am sure.

I600A Time

With our home study approved, it is now time to file the I600A. Yay! This is a milestone in the adoption process. It's just a form. Easy Peasy, right?

Wrong.

This one is hard. There are a cabillion a lot of ambiguous questions. If answered correctly, we pass go. If answered incorrectly, it gets kicked back and we loose time.

Good news, though. I have lots of friends who are going through this journey and are a few steps ahead of us. I can email them and have answers almost immediately.

Since it's oh, 1:00 am and I just finished a 7 hour installation (because I am a computer genius) of my printer drive after last week's fatal hard drive death, I will be tabling the form until tomorrow night.

Wish us luck!

And thank you to all of you have supported our adoption fund by purchasing puzzle pieces. Your donations have made it possible to file this form which is approximately $900.00!

Layne's Birthday Wish

Today is Layne's birthday. Happy Birthday little girl. She has asked for the same thing for her birthday on a number of occassions in the last month. Find out what Layne wants for her birthday here:

http://littlekidsbigfaith.blogspot.com/2011/09/dear-blogger.html

"Dear Blogger,

I have been very excited this week. One day I said all I want for my birthday is a new baby brother. My mom laughed. I don't know why that was funny. I pray for him every night now.                 Layne"



My Great No Good Terrible Rotten Day

We had a horrific day filled with blessings today. It was the easiest worst day I've ever had.

6:00 am My daughter woke me to tell me her throat "really hurt". I took a look at her throat as soon as I could clear the gunk out of my over worn contacts. Wow! I had not seen swollen tonsils that red ever. Her throat looked like it was on fire.

6:15 am Quick morning discussion with my husband about how to handle it and we finally realized I need to call my boss, reschedule my clients and take her to the doctors. Thinking my boss would want to fire me for ruining her day so early in the morning, I texted her to tell her what was going on. She compassionately helped me through the logistics of rearranging the day.

7:15 am I took our son to school and with my daughter headed to my office to reschedule those appointments and get my lap top. Once there, I realized I didn't have the correct phone numbers for my 9:30 appointment and I wouldn't be able to call her first so she didn't head all the way to our offices. Ten more phone calls later, my boss took charge and reassigned the client to another designer and told me to go take care of my daughter.

8:30 am I headed up the road to the doctors office, when I heard a new noise coming from under the SUV. Not the same rattling I'm used to but a new very ominous sound. Stopped at a red light. Sound stopped.

Accelerated. Sound came back. No, this isn't good. My daughter then complained she was hungry as I'm trying to diagnose the engine problem by hearing alone and without any knowledge of auto mechanics. Could just be a trash bag stuck under there, I determine.

8:35 am We see the gleaming orange M for McDonald's and since she's hungry and I haven't eaten I decided to pull over, get the bag off the bottom of my car and feed her before the appointment. I think to myself, I should pull over here in this out of the way spot in the parking lot first just to check it out then I'll go through the drive through.

8:36 am I peer under the truck to discover tragedy had struck my poor 140,000 mile 2005 Chevy Trailblazer. Something is gushing out the bottom. Is it water? Maybe, but mixed with something? I don't know, I'm not an AUTO MECHANIC! Stand up to discover hood is now 'smoking?'. It wasn't doing that 5 seconds ago while I was driving but somehow managed to save itself just long enough for me to pull over.

8:38 am Call the garage, which I have on speed dial and report what appears to be happening. He says to have it towed to them. Then something strange happens. Out of nowhere comes a man clearly homeless and asks if he can help me. With his hands up he says, "I'm not going to hurt you or try to scare you. I saw you pull in and I thought I should come over to make sure you're all right. Can I look under the hood?" Now I have great Danger Radar and all I felt from this man was true compassion and honesty. He and I looked under the hood and he diagnoses the problem as a broken water pump. I'm on the phone already to my road side service to arrange for towing.

8:45 am Tow is arranged and they'll be here in 45 minutes, they said. I already knew I had nothing to offer this kind man and was feeling pretty bad about that. As we were chatting, I put my hands in the pockets of the jeans I threw on on the way out the door. I haven't worn them in 5 months since it's been an inferno here. Now that blustery 95 degree weather set in this morning, I decided to throw on a pair of jeans.  I put my hands in the pocket and felt a familiar crumple. That feel of surprise! You know what it was. That feel of washed money and it's still in your pocket feeling. I pulled out the dry crumpled wad to find a $5 bill. I asked him if he had eaten and gave him the found money as a thank you for his kindness.

8:50 am We walked the 50 yards over to McDonald's, washed our now dirty hands and ordered our food. Once the food was delivered I thought we should wait by the truck even though they said 45 minutes. As I walked out the door of McDonald's, I saw the tow truck and the operator getting ready to tow my SUV. The tow truck driver couldn't have been sweeter. He was kind to my sick daughter, knew the garage well where we were going and had me there in 10 minutes.

9:00 am We were all checked in at the garage and I settled in to wait for their driver to get back to take us to the rental car company. They said it would be about 45 minutes to an hour. I thought, ok, we'll finish our breakfast and read a little and wait. I barely heard the discussion behind the desk as I was sitting down. Then one of the garage workers came over to me and said he needed to drive up north and would take us right then if we'd like to go. Uh, sure, right now?! Yep, I'm all for not waiting!

9:15 am We arrive at the car rental place to find out they don't have any cars. But wait, says another worker, were driving some over from up north since were so busy. She asked if I wouldn't mind waiting 45 minutes. Sure, we got time. We go to the bathroom where I finally put on some make up and when we walk out, as she says, "Your car is here already. We're just washing it and we'll have you out of here in 5 minutes." Wow, I start to think to myself that something else is at play here during my no good horrible rotten day.

9:40 am Out the door. I needed to drive back to the garage to get my house keys. Oops! My bad. I called the doctors office for the third time and asked to reschedule her appointment. Can you com in at 10:15? "Uh, sure." So we head over there. Once we get there, we're seen immediately by the sweetest doctor that I've never met before. She is compassionate and empathetic to my daughter and helpful to me.

11:00 am We head out the door! Now I am out of money, and I know today is not going to be cheap so I call work to see if our paychecks have arrived. What do you know? Yes, they're there! So we head over to pick up my check. Drop it off at the bank and on the way home we get a call from the doctor confirming strep throat and saying she's already called in the prescription and it should be waiting for us.

11:15 am Arrive at drug store, need to wait 5 whole minutes for the prescription to be ready. Realize while I'm waiting that I haven't had my lipstick for 3 days. That is very bad. It's bad not because I look washed out and sickly without lipstick, which is true, but bad because inside my other makeup bag that I store just lipstick and blush in, I also store my SAFETY DEPOSIT KEY. Gulp, a tiny panic sets in because I haven't seen that little black bag for three days and I wonder if I'll ever see it again. But I think to myself, you know Amy, there are locksmiths in the world and it might cost $100 bones but you can get back in there. It's not the end of the world. Yep, my logic calms me down and we head out of the drug store with the prescription and one new lipstick.

12:00 pm We got home having already forgotten about the missing makeup bag aka storage for the most important key I own. I get my daughter in a warm bath, give her the medication. The garage calls to give me the news. It is a broken water pump and it will need a new thermometer and wha wha wha wha wha. I tune him out because after the first two descriptions, I really don't understand what he's saying. When he finishes talking mechanic lingo I ask for the bottom line. He responds, "697.00" Uh, well that's not the $5 dollars I found in my pocket but it could be worse. This garage allows me to make three separate payments with no interest to cover the costs. Why do I know this? I've used this service many times. Remember my truck has 140,000 miles on it.

12:30 pm I sit down finally to write about my day and remember I have a lost makeup bag aka safety deposit storage bag. I look around the house for it and don't find it. I wonder why I'm not panicked. Because if this day has taught me anything it's that everything is going to be ok today. Think. Where could it be? Not my purse, I've looked there a million times. Not the recycle bag I've been using as a briefcase. What other bag could it be in? Aha! My lunch bag. I go to look in the bag I've been using for lunch that my mother in law gave me and there it is!!!!!!!!

1:00 pm My daughter is asleep and I am reminded today that it's not all about the adoption. I have great blessings in my life right now that I am grateful for. The first being the loving hand God is playing in my life. Who else could have orchestrated such an easy terrible day? What was he trying to tell me today? Perhaps even in the chaos, he will be there? Perhaps He knew I hadn't spent time with my daughter and that I needed some time to love on her and make her feel protected and cared for? Perhaps he knew I've put so many hours and my whole heart into preparing for the adoption and he just wanted me to take some time for the children I have here. It's ok. It doesn't mean I love our new son any less or desire his presence in our family any less. I just know now more than ever that God will place the lonely in families...in His time and I'm comforted knowing that He is caring for our son right now while I care for our other children here.

Thanks for listening. I hope your next terrible day is as great as mine was today!

The Price of Stones

I'm in the middle of another great read on life in Uganda. The book is called The Price of Stones, Building a School for My Village. It was written by Twesigye Jackson Kaguri. The book retells the true story of Tweisigy Jackson Kaguri's life growing up in southwestern Uganda and his mission to open and run a school for HIV/AIDS orphans.

I am half way thu the book and already impressed by the writer's commitment to his community and his determination to help children who are orphaned by the death of one or two of their parents from HIV/AIDS.

Jackson Kaguri understood from a very young age that education was the key to escaping poverty. He supported many family and neighbors from his village after he left Uganda to pursue life and education in the United States. He was drawn to human rights issues and upon returning to Uganda for a visit he finds the AIDS crisis growing and the children who were victims to it, left to fend for themselves.


Jackson Kaguri says on page 50, "'There are almost two million orphans in Uganda.' For a country no larger than the state of Oregon, it was a mind-numbing figure. If a tragedy of this proportion happened in America, people would demonstrate in the streets. But here amid the peaceful rolling hills and quiet farms, death crept silently from house to house, taking a mother here and a father there. No news crew splashed the story across the television.' This is a profound and alarming statement and it made me stop to take stock in how I look at the world.

What would happen if the media around the would focus on the desperation of people living with and dying of HIV/AIDS around the world? What if the first thing we saw on the news everyday was a count of the dead from AIDS and how many children were orphaned that day? We would take more notice?

Jackson Kaguri did what most people don't. He had a vision to open a school and he answered the call. He acted. He gave up his life in America. He and his wife gave up the dream of owning their own home and pursuing the American dream because their hearts ached for these children. Both of them did not listen as people tried to persuade them from moving forward with building the school. And the incredible happened after they answered the call; God provided each step of the way.

The Price of Stones is a wonderful story of faith and giving and I am eager to see how Jackson Kaguri builds his school to help the orphans that he cares so deeply about. I anticipate the book will reveal miracle after miracle. Stay tuned for the rest of the story....

If you've read a book about Uganda and life in this beautiful country, please let me know. I'm eager to read more!

Give Away!!!!!

Our Project Puzzle fundraiser is going great. I want to thank everyone who has generously donated to the fundraiser. So far we've raised $1335.00 !  Your contributions will directly help us bring our son home! He is currently at an orphanage in Uganda which has loving and caring house mothers but he is one of many children there. He deserves a warm bed and a mother and father dedicated to his well being and a family who will surround him with the love he needs to reach his true potential.

We are currently waiting on background investigations to be completed at the orphanage and we should hear very soon who this little one is that God has chosen for our family! It is our hope that when we get the call, or email, to accept his referral that we will be half way to our fundraising goal!

So without further ado....we have an awesome Give Away to offer. I attended a Noonday Collection trunk show a few weeks ago and fell in love with this little necklace!



All of Noonday Collection jewelery and gifts create opportunities for economically disadvantaged producers. Noonday has traveled the world in search of wonderful artisans working to better the lives of their families and have dedicated themselves to the ten standards of the World Fair Trade Organization.  

Here's how the give away will work.

• For every Project Puzzle piece that is purchased, one raffle ticket will be entered to win. (For those of you who have already donated, I have you covered, you've already been entered!)
• Buy one piece, you  get one chance to win. Buy three pieces and you get three chances to win! How simple is that!
• The drawing will be held on October 1st or when we sell the last piece of the puzzle!

Click here to be directed to our Pay Pal account

Good luck and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the kinds words, prayers, and donations. We are humbled to have so many surround us with their support!

I was given the heads up that this is not a raffle. It is a give away. Legal departments on overdrive!

Little Kids Big Faith

In case you're just joining us you may not know that our kids are writing their own blog. The link is way over there on the side under See What the Kids Are Saying tab....See it now?

They have very important things to say about this new little one who will join our family so I thought they should get their very own blog.

They are working hard in between soccer, tball, school, doing choirs, piano lessons and taking time out to sleep once in a while to write for their blog.  Check out how stinking cute they are here.

The Facts

Please share this link http://www.jeffreyfamilyblessings.blogspot.com/

with your friends, family and co-workers. The orphan crisis is overwhelming in our world but you can help. Become a follower of our blog, donate to our adoption fund, and watch in the coming weeks as we launch a campaign to raise support for the babies home where our son is.

With your help, we can make a difference.

A Distant Grief

The more I know and learn of Uganda, the more I respect her people who are resilient and faithful. I want to learn everything I can about this beautiful country and the heartbreaking history that has turned the survivors into heroes. I want to understand all that I can of the history and culture of Uganda so that I can offer our new son more than just a life in the US. He is coming from a beautiful country and a wonderful heritage and he shouldn't have to leave all that behind to join our family.

One of the first books I've read is A Distant Grief by F. Kefa Sempangi. A Distant Grief recounts the story of the harrowing days, months, and years of the reign of terror of Idi Amin. The book is beautifully written with pearls of inspiration, wisdom and faithfulness on every page . The subject matter of Amin's brutel atrocities is heavy and burdensome. However, A Distant Grief has left me awestruck of the the true spirituality and evangelicalism that converted murderers and sustained Christians in the face of human rights atrocities.

I was struck, probably naively, when Sempangi describes in Chapter 8, "On February 13, 1972 Idi Amin made a short trip to Libya....In Libya, Amin convinced Colonel Qaddafi and other Arab leaders that Uganda was a Muslim nation....Libya alone contributed over 30 million dollars 'to eliminate the few remaining Christians and turn Uganda into a Muslim state."  page 81

I was 3 years old when this happened. There are countless people living in Uganda today who witnessed Amin's atrocities first hand. Adults who were orphaned 40 years ago when one or both of their parents were tortured and murdered in front of them. Sempangi isn't describing history that happened hundred's of years ago, he's is describing the lives of people who endured the unimaginable and who are living in Kampala and throughout Uganda today.

What became of these children? For a time Sempangi took them in in the orphanage he founded called Kijomanyi Foundation Children's Home of Kampala. However, the orphan crises grew and for every child they took in, ,more were turned away. What became of those who were turned away? 

He tells of the atrocities because without describing the horrific scenes that played out day after day, how would we understand? The US and the rest of the world, at the time, claimed Amin was merely, "an international buffoon whose strange exploits bemused the civilized world." page 136

Yet, that is not the message of Sempangi's book. The message is clear and on almost every page of the 189 page book, that Jesus suffered for our sins and in that suffering offered each person eternal life...not here on earth but in Heaven.

These people were brave. They were steadfast in their faith despite the conditions they were living. Still, among the tortured, thousands upon thousands of people gave their lives to Jesus after hearing the word of God from Sempangi and the church he helped form church call the Redeemed Church in Kampala. One night while running from the Nubian Army, and elder in the church, Kiwanuka, said "We are persecuted for the hope that lives in us. Our hope is the Resurrection. We have nothing to worry about, Christ will fulfill our claims." page 149

Sempangi himself was once held at gunpoint and told by those who held him hostage that they would kill him. They told him that if he needed to say something before he died, he should do it quickly. He responded by saying, "I do not need to plead my own cause. I am a dead man already. My life is dead and hidden in Christ. It is your lives that are in danger, you are dead in your sins. I will pray to God that after you have killed me, He will spare you from eternal destruction." page 119

His testimony and faith shocked his one of the mercenaries who asked, "I saw widows and orphans in your congregation. I saw them singing and giving praise. Why are they happy when death is so near?"  page 121 Sempangi responded, "Because they are loved by God. He has given them life, and will give life to those they loved, because they died in Him." This killer of 1,000's would go on to repent his sins and live in the word of God.

A Distant Grief is a remarkable testament to the word of God and redemption.  The book is as engaging and inspiring today as it was when Sempangi wrote it in 1979.

Puzzle Update

We are excited by the response to our first adoption fundraiser...the Puzzle Project. We wanted to share the amazing news that so far, we've raised.....

$1,135.00



We've had a few families lovingly support us by donating a piece for every member of their family...so stinkin cute!  Thank you to those of you who did. We are so appreciative.

So we still have well over 600 pieces left for claiming! Hurry and purchase your piece(s) so you can make sure you're part of this adorable treasure that will go in our son's room when it's finished.

We are going to be filing our I600A form this week and your donations helped us achieve the necessary funds, plus some, in order to do that. The I600A form is completed before an orphan is located or has been identified for an adoption. This form must be completed as it is the United States government reviewing fingerprints, home study, birth certificates, etc. and either approving or denying of our right to adopt internationally. The form and the necessary fingerprinting for each of us will cost $890.00!

So, again, we want to THANK everybody who made it possible to file the I600A without us having to go into debt to do it. We love you all.

The next major hurdle is going to be our adoption attorney in Uganda. We will need to be prepared to pay her just about $5000.00. (Gulp) This next step is coming up ridiculously fast. I'm a little nervous about it because it's so much money and I'm not sure how all that is going to appear in our laps. We believe God put the desire to adopt in our hearts and that he will find a way for it to happen if we'll just show some faith.

If you would like to be part of this cute project and support our family in the adoption, please click on the Pay Pal button to the right side. If you would like to write a check instead of Pay Pal, I'm all for making it easier on you. Email address for instructions!

Lastly, if you know anyone who has a heart for orphans and would like to help bring our family together, please feel free to share our story and our blog.

"Why Not Foster Care?" and Other Questions We Hear

My husband and I have had months to analyze and digest our reasons for adopting from Uganda. We understand that our friends and family are only just learning of our plans and have some of the same questions we had when we first started this journey. Sometimes I have to be reminded that those in our life care deeply for our family and are expressing concerns and have normal questions.


I have a dear friend in my women's group at church. I call her my Voice of Reason. I think God sent her into my life so he could speak to me, sometimes slap me upside the head when needed, or othertimes gently whisper a word or two that will transform me in an instant back to a rational human being with a kind heart. She has seen me go on and on over something I imagined was a great offense to me; someone doing an injustice to me or having the gall to disagree with me. My Voice of Reason over there will put forth a couple of words...gently...almost like she's not talking about my bad behaviour of the moment but just commenting on the world at large. And there in front of me will be...Reason.


I tell you this because she had a couple of wonderful words for me this weekend while I was offended and rightly hurt and all justified and rambling on and on about something. She said simply, "Amy, not everybody is going to agree with you. And, that's okay....Really."


Yep, she's right. If you think about it, convincing 100% of the people I know of how great adopting from Uganda is going to be was a bit of lofty goal!


I thought I'd address some of the top concerns I've heard from folks.  Here are a few questions we've gotten along the way and how we feel regarding them....

What's a Cupcake Kid?

No doubt you've seen the great big

icon on the side bar.

You've thought to yourself, "I'd really like a cupcake right now...what is that over there?"

Cupcake Kids spun off from the children of the wonderful people at SixtyFeet. Their kids wanted to help the children of Africa as much as their parents did and they came up with the idea to sell some cupcakes on the corner. So far the movement has been a phenomenon across the US and has raised over $60,000 for orphan care.

Kids are naturally givers and philanthropists. I have wept over the big heart of my little girl, Kate, who raised close to $275 for her grandfather's ALS Benefit. How'd she do it?

First Fundraiser Underway

Our fundraiser, Project Puzzle, is underway! We received our FIRST donation from a dear friend in town. I should have known he would respond quicker than anyone else. Who else takes action immediately every single time my computer is infected with a virus...and actually fixes it. Who else had his Droid surgically implanted organized perfectly so it's always available? The very nanosecond our email went out about the fundraiser I got an almost instant message from Pay Pal notifying me of his donation. Thanks Friend!

We have also received donations from two great friends of mine. Thanks Girls! You are both dear to me.

Lastly, our big Kahuna came in with a whopping $1000 puzzle piece. The biggest challenge will be  finding the puzzle piece worthy of such a generous and wonderful donation. Should it be one of his sparkling eyes, or a part of what is sure to be a loving and generous heart, or should it be part of the hand that I will hold every day? Tricky, so many great choices.



I thought I should recap in case you haven't been to our fundraising page to see where all this money will go. $25K? What? Let me promise you one thing. The people involved in helping find forever families for orphans are not getting rich. Yes, I'm sure the world has it's share of swindlers out there, but when you see the breakdown of the costs involved, I think it makes better sense.

One thing you should know about our adoption. Todd and I are doing our adoption independently. That means we're doing the hard work of finding our own referral, we're putting all the paperwork together for Uganda and mailing it over ourselves, and we'll navigate the in country government requirements ourselves, as well. 

What does this mean to you, our donors? 
 

I Refuse

I Refuse, by Josh Wilson

I've heard this song many times but never listened to the lyrics until today. Many people ask us why we're adopting from Uganda. Josh Wilson's song pretty much sums it up for me. I put it on our playlist so you might be listening to it right now, then again, maybe not.

Sometimes I
I just want to close my eyes
And act like everyone's all right
When no, they're not
This world needs God
But it's easier to just stand and watch
I could say a prayer and just move on
Like nothing's wrong
But I refuse

Cause I don't want to live like I don't care
I don't want to say another empty prayer
Oh I refuse to
Sit around and wait for someone else
To do what God has called me to do myself
Oh I could choose
Not to move
But I refuse

I can hear the least of these
Crying out so desperately
And I know we are the hands and feet
Of You, O God
So if you say move
It's time for me to follow through
And do what I was made to do
And show them who you are

Cause I don't want to live like I don't care
I don't want to say another empty prayer
Oh I refuse to
Sit around and wait for someone else
To do what God has called me to do myself
Oh I could choose
Not to move
But I refuse

To stand and watch
The weary and lost
Cry out for Him
I refuse
To turn my back
And try and act like all is well
I refuse
To stay unchanged
To wait another day
To doubt myself
I refuse
To make one more excuse

Cause I don't want to live like I don't care
I don't want to say another empty prayer
Oh I refuse to
Sit around and wait for someone else
To do what God has called me to do myself
Oh I could choose
Not to move
But I refuse
I refuse
I refuse
Yeah

Project Puzzle

We need to kick up the fundraising and this idea is so dang cute I couldn't pass it up. I didn't invent it but I put my own spin on it.

So here's the idea...

We don't have our referral (adoption lingo for who is this little one who will be taking up space in Jack's room and causing chaos hopefully very soon). But when we get his little mug shot we'll upload it on a 768 piece puzzle. Why 768 pieces? Um, because it was either that or 1,000 pieces and I thought writing names on teeny tiny pieces would look ridiculously small - too small and we'd need a microscope to see all your beautiful names.

Anyway, once we get this gorgeous little guy's photo (which BTW, you won't see until we have him home and the adoption is final. I know boohoo, but it has to be that way) I'll upload his photo and blur out his face but I'll show you the progress of writing your names on the back of the pieces! It is so cool, I promise you. I know it sounds super dorky but just go with me on this one!

You...my friends and fam, if you will lovingly support our adoption efforts by purchasing pieces of the puzzle for either $10 a piece or whatever hefty donation you see fit, we'll write your names on the back each piece of puzzle you purchase.

Try to imagine how smart this little one is going to be after Todd gets a hold of him. Remember Todd teaches gifted ed....so you know he'll be reading early and he'll be able to read just how many puzzle pieces you bought to bring him home. No pressure, just saying.

As all our friends, family and who knows, perhaps people we may not even know! purchase puzzle pieces, we'll start

Meeting Friends, Noonday Collection

Living where we do, we are lucky to be in a vibrant community where many families are adopting from Uganda, Ethiopia, and Rwanda and I was blessed last weekend to spend the evening with some wonderful women  getting to know new friends, talking about our adoption journeys and seeing the amazing artistic work shown by Noonday Collection.

Noonday Collection provides jobs by creating a pathway out of poverty for women. Buying goods from Noonday Collection creates a stable income for the artisans and means a family is less likely to abandon their child. Noonday Collection has grown to showing jewelery, accessories, and home and gifts in their trunk shows from Uganda, Ethiopia, India, Peru, Guatemala, and Ecuador.

I bought one of their best sellers. I saw it on the website before the trunk show and knew I was going to purchase it before I went. Here is my lovely. The Embira Seed bracelet is only $20.

You see the little reddish bead there...mine is green and I LOVE it! I have worn it every day since I brought her home. This is Noonday's best seller made in Uganda by some amazingly talented artisans. It's made from embira seeds and those paper beads are unique to each bracelet. I tried on 5 or 6 bracelets until I found thee perfect one for me.

Enough about my one true love because I do have another one true love I didn't dare buy because I'm saving for, um, oh that's right OUR ADOPTION.  Anyway, this is the other lovely called the Dainty Necklace made in India....

She's sells for $24! What a bargain! Who could believe such a gorgeous little necklace could go for only $24?

I could have bought one of everything but I refrained, thankfully. One little splurge and now the belt is tight. But you, feel free to check out Noonday Collection. You know you're going to buy accessories anyways, so why not buy something that has a story, that is super cute and that you know is supporting women and children directly to gain a better life for themselves.

What I know, I can't Un-know

People ask me, why adoption? Why take on such a huge task? Why Uganda? Why now? I tell them that I cannot unknow what I now know.

"...once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act."  Proverbs 24:12

Ignorance was once an excuse, but inaction to the suffering and need; turning my back and my heart when I am clearly being called...now that I know... I can't live with it. And neither can multitudes of people around the globe who are answering their call. Everybody answers their call differently. Some adopt children, some support widows and orphans financially, some people go on mission trips to change lives around the world, some tell the stories.


One such organization telling the story of the orphan crisis in Uganda is SixtyFeet. SixtyFeet is an organization dedicated to bringing hope to orphaned and confined children in Uganda. The first question is what does 'confined' mean? It is a new term for Americans. These children are not free to leave these institutions, they have nowhere to go, no one to go to who will care for them. The government does not want them wandering about the streets, loitering about perhaps stealing food or becoming victims of crime. So the children are rounded up and taken to 'rehibilitation' centers where they are kept until they are 18 years old.


Sixty Feet learned of these vulnerable children and has dedicated themselves to providing sustainable, ongoing help to them. There are estimates that Uganda has 2.5 million orphans due largely to the HIV epidemic. Many of these orphans do not have HIV/AIDS themselves but have been orphaned by at least one parent with AIDS.


Please take some time to visit SixtyFeet and see how you can help Uganda's most vulnerable children. Maybe you're not going to adopt from Uganda and that's OK, it's not for everyone. But right after you're done donating to our adoption fund, please click on SixtyFeet's 'How Can You Help' link and find out how you can help make a difference.  SixtyFeet is truly a grass roots organization and they don't carry large top heavy administration overhead that will eat up your hard earned gift.

Jeffrey Family Blessing Blog Goes Live

I have been writing this blog for a few months now but because we have been preparing ourselves and our families for this big step, we have not put it out there to the world until now. We wanted to tell our families in our own time. We needed time to weigh the consequences thoroughly and see it from all angles. We have prayed a lot, cried a lot, and yes, we have even argued. We have seen the kids get excited. We have quit and few times and then restarted.


And now today we tell the world. We are adopting. Officially.


Not really. Y'all are sleeping! I'm the only one up! I'm telling no one really, right now.


Tomorrow you'll find out.


And when you do, make sure you become a follower. Stay informed during our journey. Support us with your prayers, encourage us with your comments, let us know you're there!


We love you all and appreciate you.

Amy and Todd

Setting up Pay Pal, First Step in Fundraising

I fretted over Pay Pal and how to get it set up for the adoption fundraising because I remembered setting Pay Pal up for my business and I thought it took eons. But as I logged onto Pay Pal's website last night, the hardest part was finding the button for 'fundraising' and the rest truly was a breeze.

You can choose to either instantly verify your account information if you trust Pay Pal enough to give them your bank's log in information or it will take a few days for them to verify the account if you don't want to give them that information.  I probably didn't give up my account log in information to Pay Pal last time. However, I have had a business account with them for 3 years now and if they wanted to steal from me, they would've already done it. I have never had a problem with them and feel very confident with their security now.


Putting the Pay Pal button on the blog was equally easy. They give you the 'code' and you you just copy and past it to your Gadgets on the blog where you want it to go. I tested it, of course.  I did need to verify the email before the money could go thru. And, as always, remember, Pay Pal wants their cut. They're not Candy Stripers  - they're a business allowing you to reach more people faster and for that they will get a percentage of every sale, donation, and transaction.


Once the transaction was complete, I withdrew the money I donated to ourselves into the account I've dedicated for the adoption. It will take 3-5 days for the process. My takes about 3 days to clear. Pay Pal is instantly friendly in the "You've got money!" department. So when you get a donation, you will know instantly; you will not need to log in into you account to find out.


So, cool, it's working and that didn't take long or cause a headache. Yay !