Tuesday, July 28, 2009

WE HAVE VISAS!!!!!!

We finally have our visas. As we say a day late and about $2000 short. We are still packed up, but have dug up enough clothing to last us the next few days. We may be staying at another guest house in Kampala for the last few days. We are causing an overbooking problem at Sanyu.
If anyone is interested these are the things we hope to eat when we get home. Grilled cheeseburgers with dill pickles(you cant even find pickles here)
Real Fries
Sweet Tea with ice
bisquits with butter and blackberries
Mr. Cliff's deer steak
Real fried chicken--I cant begin to explain what they do to it here
cheese sticks from Cujo's
strawberries--the only fruit we can not find cheap
homemade chex mix
good bread, crackers, and cakes, if we come back Martha is opening a proper bakery here

Monday, July 27, 2009

Not Yet

We did not get Andrew's visa in time to leave on Monday. I had to change our tickets and we will be leaving on Saturday and arriving in Bham on Sunday. There is a reason we should still be here. I just dont know what it is. I have at least 100 reasons that I should be in Alabama now. About 50 of them involve food=). Thanks for all of the prayers, emails and fb comments.
In other news there is a family here that has chosen to adopt and another that just came to support a friend that is adopting has made the decision to adopt as well. It is great to see God working, even if your eyes are clouded with tears.
I would also like to post a world wide prayer request for Cade and his family. He had a four wheeler wreck and is in critical condition. Please lift this family up as well.
Thanks and Love to All,
Tanya

Friday, July 24, 2009

God Still Can!!!

I am tired, weary, and wornout. I got Andrew's passport and got it to the embassy in time. I was still waiting on the birth certificate. Ends up it was never applied for, so I didnt get it in time to get it to the embassy. Please pray that we get the visa on Monday. I really don't know what we will do if we don't. I'm stressed, but not worried.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Red Letter Day!!!!!!

Today was awesome. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! for the prayers. We would not have made it if not for all of you prayer warriors fighting the fight. We got approval for Andrew! Mercy's leg is almost completely healed! Irene's visa appointment went great and we should be able get Andrew's by Friday noon. So we should be home on Monday as scheduled. Keep praying til we reach Jasper.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Safari

First things first, I did not bunjee jump. Gravity has already done enough to my body, I didn't think I should go and spit in its face.
We had a wonderful time this weekend. Murchison Falls National Park is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Pictures and video do not do it justice. It was everything I thought it would be and more. The people here are so warm and friendly. As we drove along, it was about 300 kilometers, kids would wave at us from the roadside. I told Godfrey we were going to miss that, because we did not get that kind of reception at home. One bump it the road was actually about 200 bumps. They have put in speed bumps along a newly paved portion of road to keep people from speeding and tearing up the road. So we crawled, in the van, over every one. It was just the first in many funny and amusing things that happened along the way. Half of the road was a dirt road. It went from smooth to rub board to ruts and back, many, many times. It was our own bucking bronco ride through the park=). Then there were the flies, biting flies to be specific. The filled the van about 80 kilometers from our final destination, so the battle was on. We flailed and hit and sprayed with deet and nothing worked so we just had to laugh about it and go on. We stayed in a $5 a night hostel the first night. We had beds and mosquito nets. We went next door to the swanky lodge to use their bathrooms and eat. It was beautiful there. We had views overlooking the Nile and we could hear the hippos making their way to their feeding grounds. After we went back to our rooms it was lights out, literally. Because we are inside the park the only power they have is from generators. We only get power for a few hours, at 10 o'clock it was lights out!! We were ready for bed anyway. As we laid there during the night we could hear monkeys on the roof, and water bucks, water buffalo, and hippos walking around outside. We even hear a water buck walk down the sidewalk right outside our rooms. The sky was absolutely gorgeous. There were so many stars.
The next morning we were up early to start our game drive. We were out for about 4 hours and it was beautiful. We saw baboons, wart hogs, giraffes, water bucks, water buffaloes, Jackson's heartbeast, oribis(sp?), kobs, elephants, and some of the most beautiful birds in the world. We did not get to see any lions, but they can be hard to find. We went back to the lodge to relax for a few hours and then we set off on our Nile River cruise. We saw hundreds of hippos, Nile crocodiles, and all of the other animals we had seen that morning. Our destination was the base of Murchison Falls. The falls are only 6 meters wide at one point so the power of the Nile rushing though them is awesome. It was the best boat ride I have ever been on. We spent the night at Sambiya River Lodge in a banda. We had to use outdoor showers and it was the second best cold shower I have had in Africa. We had a great meal at the lodge and a great nights sleep on the best matress we have had on this continent.
The next morning we left early for a trip to the top of the falls. To see the power and beauty of the Nile is to know that there is a God. Only a supreme being could make something so breathtaking. We managed to keep the biting flies out of the van on the way out of the park. It just meant keeping the windows up. Thank goodness it was a cloudy morning.
On the way home we stopped at the Ziwa Rhino Sactuary. They have 7 of the 9 rhinos in Uganda. They are trying to reintroduce them to the wild. Two of the rhinos were donated by Disney's Animal Kingdom. They have a new baby, we did not get to see, that was born in June. His name is Obama. We actually got out of the van and walked through the grass for about 15 minutes to reach where 3 of the rhinos were resting. We got to walk within 15 yards of them. It was sooooo cooool!! We went back to the lodge for lunch and then it was back across the 200 speed bumps home. All in all a wonderful trip!! I would not trade the experience for anything in the world.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Did I??!???!


You'll have to check back to see. Leave me a comment and tell me if you think I bunjee jumped into the Nile.

Martha is not in de Nile


She is just having a great time looking at it.

Sorry about the corny humor!!!

Trip to Jinja


We went to Jinja today. This is the view from the table we ate lunch at. It was so quiet and relaxing compared to Kampala. We really enjoyed it. This is the Nile River. Can you believe it?!?!?

Sunday, July 12, 2009

The Official Birthday Girl


I had to post a picture of Mercy. It was her birthday and she is 1!!!! Mercy is awesome and so is her mom.

Birthday Party Part 2


The internet was not cooperating last night so I did not get to post like I had wanted. We had a birthday party for Mercy yesterday. Willa Rae and I horned in on it. I had chosen June 28th for WRs birthday, but that happened to fall on the weekend that Andrew was sick and I got sick, so we never celebrated. Therefor we shared a party with Mercy. We got the kids dressed up, we opened presents and had chocolate cake, pringles and juice. A very fun day for everyone!!!!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Birthday Party


Just a little juice to wash down the chocolate birthday cake. They both eat like Evanses.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Passport

Finally got Irene's birth certificate and passport today!!!! Next week it will be off to the embassy to start the visa process. We actually had to go to the immigration office to get the passports. We got to sit outside under the tent with all of the people waiting to get passports. It must have been 50-75 people waiting, we were the only mzungus. I was hoping to get Andrew's also, but it didn't happen. But on a positive note the guy who signs the passports wants to marry a mzungu from the US and he likes his women like most Ugandans do, fat=). It should make things easy if I have to go back for Andrew's passport.
Thanks for all of the prayers. We are hoping to make it back home on July 28th. We are still working on our list of food we want to eat the first week. Last night we went to a pub that served ice in their cokes. I had 3!!!!!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Court

On the way to court today I saw a guy wearing a t-shirt that said 'If God says yes, Man cannot say no.' That gave me a good feeling about court. We went in and the judge started by saying that he knew that I had already received guardianship for one child and that he thought it would be difficult for me to raise 'twins' since the kids are so close together in age. He also brought up the fact that Andrew has only been in the orphanage for 2 months. Peter argued back that my application was turned in before the judge had made the statement about children staying in the babies home for 6 months. He asked the judge to consider going ahead and granting me the approval under the condition that I leave him here for 4 more months. Not exactly the argument that I wanted to hear. The judge said he would just deny the application instead. They went back and forth argueing and joking and I thought I would loose my mind. I kept waiting for him to ask me a question. Martha asked him if she could say something and the judge told her it was none of her concern, so things were going downhill fast. Peter argued some more and then I asked if I could speak and the judge let me. I told him that I did not come here with the intentions of adopting 2 children. I explained how sick Andrew had been and how everyone thought he had sickle cell anemia. I told him how we all prayed for a family for him and how God had said that that family was me. I told him that I would consider it a great honor if he would let me take Andrew home and be his mother. Martha then got up and explained that she lives close by and that my parents live next door, and that we have plenty of family to help take care of the kids. We were both crying while we were talking. So instead of getting a definite NO, we come back for the ruling on July 21st. I am happy to say that Peter does not think the judge would make us wait 2 weeks to tell us no, so we are very hopeful. Thanks for all of your prayers. We will definitely have time to go to Jinja and Murchison Falls for a few days.
Somebody better be waiting on us at the airport with bisquits and sweet tea!!!!

Friday, July 3, 2009

Andrew's Court Date

I found out today that we go to court for Andrew on Tuesday. We have the same judge. I talked to someone at the lawyer's office today and I asked them what we were going to do about the 6 month thing. He said they would argue the case, because the 6 months was not law. So I hope they argue it well. If everything goes well, I hope we can all come home about 2 weeks after court. Please pray that all of this happens smoothly and quickly. We are ready to come home.

Trying on clothes



As you can see Willa Rae had fun and Andrew didn't.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Ruling

Went to court this morning and the judge granted me guardianship of Irene/Willa Rae!!!! I said 'Thank you, your Lordship' and then he said some other things to the lawyers. Everyone talks really low, so it is hard to hear what is being said.
When we got outside, I asked what had been said. The judge said that in the future he wants the children to be in the babies home or orphanage for 6 months before application for guardianship is made. Andrew has only been at Sanyu for 2 months. I thought I was going to trow up. I have talked to Peter and he said we should go ahead with Andrew's application, we might get another judge. I keep telling myself to trust in God, but I am sick, tired and ready to bring my children home. Please pray.