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!!!!

Birthday Party

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

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!!!!!

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!!!!

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.

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.