Long overdue update

I have not updated this blog in quite awhile. In fact I was just thinking about shutting it down. But I think I will keep it up for now and update when possible.
I came to Uganda in August. I stayed for three weeks waiting for a court date. We got one for the end of Sept. So I went home for two weeks to be with my family and my husband and I came together for court. At the court date, the judge dismissed us and sent our file to Jinja. It got there a few weeks later, then we pushed and tried to be seen before Jeremiah left to come home. The judge couldn't see us, she is transferring to a new position at the end of Oct. So I am here by myself, waiting until next week when we might here some news about a new court date in Jinja with the new judge. Praying for a miracle. If things don't work out then I may return home on my scheduled flight, Nov. 3. Not sure what will happen from there, since we are out of money to purchase another ticket to Uganda, especially when the holidays come around. Plus Mercy's caregiver is planning a trip to Holland in December and she must be present in court. And then ticket prices get crazy expensive. Also there is the issue of elections here. Really dangerous to be in country during that time. Please pray. Consider how you might help our family. I am broken, tired, and weak. But putting all my faith in Him.

I am way overdue!

I hear Uganda calling...or maybe the Holy Spirit? Either way I answered the call, booked tickets are will be arriving on August 17, right after the courts reopen. I was not discouraged from coming by our attorney, in fact he is telling us that he will try to get us a court date in that time frame. We shall see. We are hoping for a miracle. Mercy is excited to meet me. I am sure she really wants to meet her daddy too. If we can get a court date, then J. will be traveling to meet us and we can all come home together, prayerfully!

We are about $3000 short for our plane tickets. There are many ways friends can support us. We are selling coffee www.justlovecoffee.come/showmercy. We are selling ice cream sandwiches, and we are holding a drawing for a nice stay at a beautiful inn in Bellingham, WA. We still have t-shirts for sale. Also friends of ours are hosting a garage sale and bake sale at our church on August 21st! Please pray for the funds to be provided so that can be one less thing to think about.

I have a lot on my mind, as I prepare the kids for back to school, clean and declutter (I'm nesting!) and pack for a three week (or longer) trip to Uganda. Plus getting all the paperwork in order, making sure the kids will be ok at home and thinking about how much I will miss them. Please keep us all in your prayers.

Prayer please

Please pray!!! We heard that our case should be filed in court on Monday. We should get an update then. Please pray we will be assigned a good pro-adoption judge. There is one who told a friend he will grant adoption for any special needs child. His name starts with an Mz. I can't remember the whole name, but I bet if you just ask God to assign us a good judge he will know just the right one!!! I am unsure of the whole process, how long it will take to get a court date, etc. but am hoping for perfect timing for our family AND for Mercy. Please pray for God's provision for our family as we step out in faith over this shaky, rickety bridge.

News

Many things have been happening in Uganda right now, but i won't go into it too much. Things have been an emotional roller coaster ride. We had a big high yesterday with great news, then a low this morning with rumors of not good news. Then I heard from our lawyer right after about how he will send our affidavit tomorrow or Tuesday. He is planning on visiting Mercy early next week too and is working on our case!! Hurray. I can't ask you enough to PLEASE PRAY!!!! Every time you think of it, please pray for our sweet Mercy and our family. Print out a pic of her and post it on your bathroom mirror. Put it on your fridge. This is so hard and we need all of your love and support and most of all help from the Lord.

Here is a post I wrote last night:
My conversation with God
Me in pink
God in white

Here is a little girl who needs a family. I think she should be yours.
Now? It seems like we just brought home our son! We are busy, the kids are still all getting used to each other.
Yes, now. She needs a family very soon. She is sick and needs help.
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

But weren't going to do another international adoption, at least not right now. While we are so blessed with the two boys you have brought to us, it is so hard. The wait, the cost, the drama, the politics, the emotional ups and downs...We haven't been saving any money since this is so unexpected. We need to come up with how much, by when???
You've already been through this before. You are well prepared. And don't worry about the money. I'll provide.
Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

This little girl has so many unknown medical issues. This is very scary!
Don't worry, it will be ok. This little girl is meant to be with you, no matter her condition. I've prepared you for such a time as this by caring for several of my special little ones. I'll give you strength.
Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

We will have to leave our children at home while we travel across the world. We may have to be there for a long time! That's not fair to our kids, our friends or our family. What about J's job?
Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

I don't know if we can handle this, are you really sure? Six kids? People will think we are crazy!
I won't give you more than you can handle.
Psalm 18:32 It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.
Philippians 4:13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Sweet girl

No news but a sweet photo of Mercy. She is so beautiful. Prayers are muttered from my lips all the time. I have no idea what God's plans are but they are perfect and I am resting in this.

I put the winter clothes away I had hanging in the closet for Mercy. Winter is nearly over, spring dresses and tops are making their way to the racks in the stores. I bought a few cute things last month so I hung them up in the closet, praying as I hung them. Praying for Mercy to be able to wear these sweet things before she outgrows them.

April would be such a great time for us to travel to Uganda. J. has a vacation scheduled toward the beginning. But I still must trust.

Please pray for this little girl to make her way home soon.

We finally heard from our lawyer. Here is what he thinks:

As for the special needs cases the judges are more open to that right now given the current crisis at the Embassy. I would do that although i think alot depends on how the judges look at it nd especially whih judge we get!

Am not sure if all the judges subscribe to this special needs/circumustances approach.

At your instance i can proceed with it. If for any reason the judge does not agree we can then file for legal guardianship afresh while your here, is that acceptable?

Am not very comfortable with the special needs adoption because i do not think that is what the law says, it says in special circumustances a foreigner may adopt a Ugandan child, it does not say that the requirements will be waived for special needs children!

However the judges are the kings of the law and if that is how they interpreat it we can go along with that interpretation.

I guess am going to let u make this call.

Please confirm.

We told him we would like to go for an adoption. Please pray that we can move forward and submit our paperwork soon.

Thank you!

Patience

In a blog post from www.myownprivatehaiti.com, Katia Ulysse wrote about a recent half marathon where she met a more experienced runner.

"What’s your secret?” I asked her.

“Patience,” the lady said matter-of-factly. “I don’t have to finish the race in five seconds. Patience allows me to keep going while 90 percent of the runners leave me behind. With patience, I can run from here to the end of the world.”

I thought about the Haitian proverb: “Avèk pasyans, wa wè lonbrit foumi.” It takes patience to find an ant’s navel.

“Anyone can complete the distance,” the lady offered. “You need a big enough reason to start the race. But it takes patience to finish it.”

I am taking a little break from my fast to ask for more prayer. Please pray that things in Uganda will be resolved quickly so we can continue moving forward. Pray for our patience, and for Mercy. I am sure she is wondering what is taking us SO LONG!

FOUR MONTHS!

Today marks four months of waiting. We went into this journey expecting to travel by now. We are waiting, and hoping. Last night I prayed that we would get word from our lawyer. God answered my prayers...here's what he said:

Hi Kimberly, my best regards.

Sorry am currently in nairobi doing an arbitration I will be back in Kampala on Saturday, should be able to get back to you in the course of the week.

Am also hoping that by then there will be a consensous with the Embassy.

Please keep in touch.

Also, I called about our fingerprint clearance letter. It was sent to our agency's old address. I had faxed them a change of address request. They didn't get it or chose to ignore it. The PO will not forward government letters to different addresses after delivered. I am trying to contact my agency to see if they may be able to track the letter down. Ugh, my stomach hurts. If they can't find it I need to call back on Monday. Hopefully they can resend the letter without problem if it's not found. I don't want to wait another TWELVE WEEKS!

Please keep PRAYING! I am feeling down and hopeless at this point. I don't like feeling this way. I know the delays are all for a reason. I just want Mercy to come home and be able to get the medical attention she needs.

One step.

Our son Elijah and Mercy with S. (taken while instant messaging on Facebook!) I think Mercy and Elijah look a lot alike in some pictures.

We got an email from our family pediatrician tonight. I love this guy. He is on vacation in HAWAII and took the time to email me with the attached letter we need for Mercy. How nice is that? I can pick up the signed one in his office tomorrow or the next day! That is one more thing done.

Now if we would just hear back from our lawyer. I sent him another email. Let me know if I am starting to not sound polite:
Hello I.,
I am not sure if the last message I sent went through. I still have some problems with hotmail. I was just hoping for an update for us. I am trying to be patient, but am worried about the health of Mercy.
Thank you for all you are doing!
K.
Here's the one from Friday afternoon:
Hi I.,
I was just checking in to see if you have any news. We are hoping things are getting worked out and would like to mail our paperwork within the next few weeks. Many people are praying for the situation. We still hope to get Mercy here as soon as we can so she can get to the specialists at the hospital.
Thanks and God bless,
K.

I am aware that things are on hold right now and there may not be anything he can do for us. But I would really love to hear from him, even if it's just to say "I have no news, we are waiting for this or that."

Thank you all for praying for us. My sister in law sent us a really nice email yesterday that warmed my heart. (I hope you don't mind me posting it, B.)

She is soooo cute! A. made me cry. She saw the photos of her and asked me if she had a mommy. I have no idea what made her ask that. She never says things like that. I got to tell her that no, she didn't but that God is going to bring her into our family with Uncle Jeremiah and Aunt Kim. She took it in stride, like that was so normal. But how did she know that Mercy didn't have a family? A. just seems to understand God. Sometimes she'll come up to me and say, "Momm, God loves me soooo much. God loves all of us." Our babies are such a blessing and I am so proud that God is working in your hearts to do this difficult thing. I want you to know we are praying for you and the blessing of your generosity extends beyond just what you can see.

Love, B.

Here are some more encouraging words I've been keeping in my inbox..I am going to be trying to clear the over 1000 messages on there.

This is wonderful news. The Lord has prepared you for such a time as this and equipped you to care for His precious creation, and you are an encouragment to us. In a time where children seem so disposable at every age it's so wonderful to see you guys "step up" and "step out" in faith. The Lord knows He can entrust this little one to you.

YIPPPPPEEEE! Congratulations. This is huge and wonderful and just perfect. Oh I am so excited for your family. I think Mercy is absolutely adorable. We will be praying for safety for her and a quick (if they can be) adoption. So much love and support heading your way.

A new direction?

We heard from our lawyer this morning. We may be moving in a new direction with Mercy. I won't post specifics on here, but please keep praying. I feel it may be a very positive thing.

I participated in the prayer meeting yesterday. What a wonderful, emotional time to spend with like minded brothers and sisters in Christ. I hung up in tears, but not sure why. I felt like God will move and it will all be ok. The unknowns are so hard. International adoption is so hard. The enemy is working hard to hang on to these children. But the Lord will prevail!

This week we are praying

We are praying this week. For these specific things:

• That we will get our FBI approval this week. (Monday will be 11 weeks they have had our application)
• That we will get the letter from the doctor and the MAT letter this week.
• That we will get some good news about the process this week.
• That we will be able to send in our affidavit by the end of the week.
• That Mercy will continue to do ok with the medication she is on.
• That we will have an idea of when we may be traveling in the next few weeks.
• That I can get a lot done around the house. Trying to get things in order!

A woman adopting from Ethiopia wrote this on her blog to fellow adoptive parents...

"Many of you are called to adopt from Uganda, Haiti... even countries that are currently closed. It is a longer, more uncertain
route. It is your Red Sea experience. But take heart. The same Lord who parted the Red Sea is the same God you and I serve today! He is able!
He can make a way where there seems to be no way!!! Do not give up or lose heart!!!
The Lord wants you to NOT BE AFRAID, JUST STAND STILL AND WATCH THE LORD RESCUE!

THE LORD WILL FIGHT FOR YOU. JUST STAY CALM!

Praise Him, Praise Him that He fights our battles for us!"

Prayer Warriors, unite!

A friend is organizing a conference call prayer meeting this Sunday at 5-6 EST (for us that would be 2:00) Read the whole post about it here. I am so excited as I have seen God move mountains in adoption before. Can't wait to see what happens with this. Please consider joining in, even if you aren't adopting, to intercede for the least of these.

Would you please join me in a time of corporate prayer this Sunday, February 7th at 5:00-6:00 PM EST? We won't be spending time discussing the situation. We won't be asking or answering questions. Those who wish to pray can simply pray what is on their heart. I will open us in prayer at 5:00 PM EST and I will close us in prayer by 6:00 PM EST. Please join us for the entire hour or five minutes, whatever works for you.

Some particulars about the call:

*The call will ask you to introduce yourself. If you are calling in after we have begun, please just remain silent and join in the call.

*Please don't use headphones or put the call on speaker. This will prevent a lot of noise and make it easier for all to focus.

*Please press *6 to mute yourself once you join the call. Press *6 to unmute yourself if you want to pray out loud.

You can join in the call by calling:
Conference Dial-in Number: (605) 475-4850
Participant Access Code: 244388#

***UPDATE***
Within 10 minutes of posting I received two emails informing me I may want to change the time because the Super Bowl Pre-Show will be on during that time and the call would interfere with Super Bowl Parties. It is my opinion some things are more important than football, just sayin'...

Update from Lawyer

Here's an email from our lawyer regarding our situation:

Hi Kimberly, i think u have been reading whats going on right now,
hopefully this will be settled soon, it usually happens whenever there
is a change in consulars,we had the same problem with the last
consular and now with this one.

Please keep in touch and tell me when u get all your documents.

God Bless,

Isaac

On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 3:32 AM, Kimberly Smith  wrote:
> Dear Isaac,
> I am sure you are very busy but I wanted to see if you have any insight on
> what's going on with legal guardianship and US visas.  We are still very
> hopeful that Mercy will be able to come join our family within the next few
> months. 
> Please let me know your thoughts.  I guess if worse comes to worse we could
> try to apply for a medical visa for Mercy.  We are very close right now to
> having all our paperwork ready, once we have the final affidavit we should
> be able to mail it to you very soon.
> Blessings,
> Kimberly

Peace like a river..

I have been praying like crazy since the news about adoptions in Uganda happened. Last night as I was cleaning and doing laundry I was praying, and I felt a sense of peace wash over me. I felt this before with our son Elijah's adoption. I didn't think he would ever come home and I spend much of my time fretting and praying about it. One day I had been praying and I heard in my head a voice say to me, "Don't you trust me?" I relied on God to bring Elijah home and he did. I feel the same with Mercy. He has had his hand over this entire process, why now would he let go and let us fall? He will get her home.

In paperwork news...Jeremiah spoke to our pediatrician yesterday and I emailed Mercy's files to him to review so he can write the letter for our affidavit.

Please, please pray for the situation in Uganda. If things don't get handled properly it could shut down all adoptions from there.

so close and now this...

I logged on to facebook to see how my friend S. is doing in Uganda. She just had approval for her son's legal guardianship on Monday. She is going through all the steps to get his passport/visa and come home. She had some issues today while trying to get paperwork for his passport. Well that opened a whole can of worms on the internet and now I am hearing stories from several other families in the process. Here is the worst one, but seems to be accurate from what I can tell.

I just got an email from our

social worker with Generations:
I wanted you to be aware that we have heard that Legal Guardianship Immigrant Visa issuance in Uganda is currently on “hold” due to a problem with the wording used for the legal guardianship paperwork in the Ugandan courts. They have not shut down adoptions in Uganda, but the U.S. has asked them to put a pause on issuing visas until they can work out different wording with the Uganda courts. Our Ugandan attorney has a appointment at the US Embassy in Kampala tomorrow to obtain additional information and potential ramifications relating to this situation. Generations is confident that hearing directly from the Embassy will cut through a lot of rumors now circulating on the internet. I will email you again tomorrow to let you know information. At this time, this is all the information I have and will not have more accurate information until our lawyer meets with the Embassy tomorrow.

So, we are not exactly sure what will happen... some people are very positive that things will improve, some not so much. Everyone agrees that we all need to be on our knees. PLEASE pray that we will be able to bring Mercy here. I would be heartbroken, and I think she would be too....Pray for our friends in the process who are there right now. Pray for the future of adoptions and for the millions of children so deserving of a family.

This week....

Praying it's the week we can check off most or all of our to do's! I have been fortunate to join a group on facebook of wonderful people also adopting from Uganda. We are banding together to pray for each other and adoption. Friday was the first day we committed to this, and already we have two families traveling to Uganda for their court dates! I also had the absolute pleasure of seeing my friend's new addition home from Haiti tonight. What a blessing!

Mercy's health

Mercy is doing great! I got an update from her caregiver, and she is currently not having seizures on her medication. Here is what the email said:

We feel that her concentration got less since she is on this medication. She forgets things faster and because of this she seems frustrated and because of this she cries more often. We feel that she needs more attantion for this and we can not really offer that.

Please keep praying! Every day I feel like we are making progress on gathering all our paperwork. Only a few things left to go.

My friend S. is traveling tomorrow to Uganda for a court hearing for her son. A few months ago I sent her a package for her to bring to Mercy. The court date kept getting postponed and now she and her husband are finally going! I am so happy for her and excited that Mercy will get our gifts from us, including a photo album of our family.

One more thing...

We need our FBI fingerprint clearances for our paperwork too. I found out today our social worker does not have them. They do have clearances from 2008, but not our new ones. They told me the FBI is taking 10-12 weeks to process them. I mailed them mid November. Please pray they get back soon.

Thanks!

Chicken Pox

Mercy's friends and "siblings" have chickenpox right now. She is fine. Please pray she will remain healthy. I am not sure what having a high fever would do for her epilepsy. It probably wouldn't be good. I also got some new photos and we are traveling to get our fingerprints today.