Wordless Wednesday

{Julia's "first family" looking at her "Trip to America" book}

Still processing....

We still don't have an answer as to whether or not Julia's "first family" will give full consent for me to adopt her, but they are willing to talk about it at a family meeting on March 31st. I will go back and meet with them again on that day. More on that later. Just too much to process to write about it now!

In addition to processing and working through the situation with Julia's "first family" and all the unknowns there, we are also in the process of buying land for HCO Kenya. Buying land in Kenya is nothing like buying land in America! It is exponentially more difficult and is full of stresses that would never enter the equation in America. So, needless to say, my brain is turning into mush right now.

I do have to share something special that I learned while at Julia's birth home. Remember the ring that Julia gave to her "first mom" when we last visited her the week before we went to America?

Julia's birth mother died in September, and she was buried with the ring. That little pink, plastic ring that Julia got with a sucker at the grocery store was something special, not just to Julia's birth mother, but to the family.

Yeah, my brain is mush. And at this point, my heart is pretty much mush, too!

Letters to Julia - God's plan is good

Dear Julia,

We have a big week coming up! We are going to go visit your birth family and ask your uncle to give the family’s permission for me to adopt you. This is a big step for everyone. Even still, I want you to know that regardless of what any legal piece of paper says, I am still your Mommy and forever will be.

We  still want that piece of paper, don’t we, baby girl?! Once I am legally your forever mom and we can get through the process of you becoming a US citizen, then we will be free to come and go wherever we want and we won’t have to ask permission from any government to do so! Oh, how that will make our life easier and less stressful. 

But you know what? We serve a big God and He is true to His word. He will not leave you abandoned. He will hold us and guide us through each step in our lives, including this one. He has done that so far and we can see the amazing things He has done, and won’t it be great to look back a few years from now and see all the awesome things He is going to do?

I love you, baby girl!

~Mommy

“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”  (Deuteronomy 31:6)

“'For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

A brief update of where we are on the adoption front....

We put Julia’s adoption on hold while we were in America. She would have been unable to receive a visa if there was an adoption “in process,” so we paused the pursuit of that while we went for an extended stay in America. Now that we are back, we have resumed the adoption process. 

The main piece of the puzzle that we do not yet have is the family’s release for her to be adopted. They agreed to give me full guardianship, but adoption is a whole other ball game. In this culture, adoption is not widely received and is not understood. The perception, especially in their rural village home, is that if a child is given for adoption, there is money exchanged and the baby is “bought.” Therefore, the family would have money that they are expected to share. For the family to simply say that they were not paid, it would not be believed by the community. Therefore, they are put in a tight situation. The last time we discussed the issue, Julia’s uncle, the one who acts on behalf of the family, was unable to commit to officially releasing her for adoption. 

On Tuesday, we will be traveling to Julia’s birth family’s rural home to talk to her uncle. Before we can progress to any next steps in our adoption process, they must free her for adoption. They will have to go to Nairobi, meet with a social worker, and sign over their rights. By all cultural standards, this is highly unlikely. By God’s standards, it is one small step that He is in control of. 

Once the family signs over rights to free Julia for adoption, there are still many steps before we are able to breathe easily. I am not able to publicly share all the details of the process, but we covet your prayers and need them desperately. 

Please remember us on Tuesday. Pray that our miracle working God goes before us to prepare and warm the hearts of the family, that they would be open towards this anti-cultural decision and be willing to do what is best for Julia’s future, placing that in higher regards than the community perception. We serve a mighty God who is sovereign, fully provincial and has good plans for His children!

(And thanks to Kara at Kara Bryant Photography of the beautiful photos of me and my beautiful daughter!)

To give you a picture of Kenya life....

Some things I'll just never get. My boys go to public school. Public school is supposed to be "free" in Kenya. It's not. Tuition (like tutorials) are mandatory and you have to pay for them. My two Class 3 boys (3rd grade) have tuition every day. Instruction ends at 12:30 and then they have tuition for the rest of the afternoon. Students have to provide their own textbooks, all school supplies, and uniforms. Another added cost to the "free" public school eduction: school furniture. You have to provide your own desk and chair.

And when it breaks, the student has to take it home and have it repaired. So, Patrick had to bring his chair home and take it to a welder. Not a big deal, just another one of those, "really?" moments. And for some reason, Julia came in and was adamant about me coming outside and taking a picture of Patrick's chair, so I thought I would share it with you. Yep, it's always something around here.

Another goodbye

Baby, now toddler, Maina has gone home! Sweet Maina came to us in August as his mother was ill. She died of AIDS two weeks after he came to HOH.

Maina comes from a large family. The family has now, as Kenyans would say, sorted themselves out, so they could be prepared to take Maina home. His sho-sho (grandmother) came for him and is so very excited to reunite him with his family.

Whenever possible, we do want to reunite babies with their families. If the family loves them and is capable of taking care of their child, that is the best possible scenario. With such a large extended family, Maina will be taken care of and loved. His cousins and aunties came to visit a few weekends ago and the kids were all so excited to see him. He will have lots of kids to play with and teach him new things.

Please pray for Maina and his family as he transitions back into the home where he spent his first year. He is a precious little boy, quiet and a bit shy. He is not a fan of quick change or being surrounded by strangers so it may take him awhile to adjust. He did respond very well to his sho-sho when she came for him, though.

We love you, Kennedy Maina! You are a special little guy with the most precious, soft smile in the world! Your eyes speak great messages and one day your words will be able to speak those messages, that I am sure will be filled with wisdom. We will miss you very much! And we will be praying for you every day, knowing that the same God who brought you to us, the God who loved you while you were in our care, is  the same God who goes with you now, protects you every day, and has great plans for your life!

Reviving Wordless Wednesdays

Silas Jabali, taking in a whole new world!

Baby Silas, or Jabali as we call him, is so happy to be out of the hospital and into a nice, comfortable home. After spending his first months lying flat on his back or tummy in a rickety hospital crib, he has a whole new view of the world now!

Silas is a quiet, sweet little boy. He has so much to take in. At this point, he is still on his own schedule, sleeping quite a bit. He is also having a hard time feeding. He does not really enjoy eating and it takes him a very long time. Silas has such a pleasant little personality. He is beginning to talk and coo and make the sweetest little faces, especially when he is being talks to or sung to. He also loves to be outside and is learning how to reach for toys and play.

Please pray for Silas as he continues to gain strength and recover from the lasting effects of meningitis and hydrocephalus. He goes to a special clinic for periodic checks of his shunt and he seems to be doing very well. He has also been seen by our amazing (and by amazing, I mean American standard good!) physiotherapist who has been training the aunties in a home exercise program. They are working on strengthening his neck, as well as general strength training to make up for the developmental time he missed while in the hospital. 

Pray also that the Lord go before Silas and prepares the perfect family for him. We are already working on attaining all the proper documents that will hopefully allow him to be freed for adoption. We love to reunite our babies with their biological families whenever possible, but we hope that Silas Jabali will be able to be adopted sometime this year. He has such a bright future...can’t you just see it in those bright eyes? 

Annabelle ~ crowned with love!

“Bless the Lord....who redeems your life from the pit,

who crowns you with love and mercy.”   (Psalm 103:4)

Sweet Annabelle is spending her first night with her forever family tonight. This little life that began in such turmoil and uncertainty is now enjoying the peace and love of a family who waited for her, found her and welcomed her into their home as their beloved daughter.

She has a daddy who is already doting over her and mother who deeply cherishes her, and a brother who enjoys singing songs to her and says he will teach her how to swim. This is what we are all about....setting the lonely in families (Psalm 68:6) and offering them a new hope and promising future (Jeremiah 29:11).

Dear Little Annabelle, 


We will miss you so very much! Your serious look, your "twinkle twinkle" fingers, your new little bounce, your loud voice making your needs known without a doubt, your love of singing silly songs. You were our first Nakuru baby. You were the one that Auntie Susan waited months for. You were our first little girl to come to our home in almost a year and half. We waited for you, and were so happy when you came into our family. But even more, your mommy and daddy were waiting for you and are overjoyed to finally have you in your perfectly prepared place in your forever family! You are a blessed little girl. You have already touched many lives and I have no doubt that you will touch many more. You are a girl who knows what you want, and I know that you will have the determination to do amazing things. I pray that you will know your Heavenly Father and that He will guide that strong determination in ways that glorify Him. He has written His name on your heart, picked you up out of the muck of this world, and given you the hope of a future in His glory! You are loved and you are cherished...by God, by those who cared for you in your first year of life, and by your mommy, daddy and your forever family! May you know that always. 


We love you, Annabelle!

Finally, a photo finish....TIK!

FPD...the rest of the story  -  And this was written and ready to go on Saturday night, and the power went out AGAIN. The whole day yesterday and then a surprise flash of it coming on, in the middle of the night, every light in the house and the uncalibrated tv with its loud static. So delayed once again, but here we go....

Really, I did finish and do them on the correct days. But I live in Africa and sometimes life feels as such. Internet went out last Saturday, nationwide. It came back this week but I was traveling and did not have good internet. You want to know why our internet went out in Kenya? A ship dropped its anchor and cut the fibre optic cable in the ocean off the coast. Isn’t that the most random thing ever? When my internet provider told us that it was a nationwide problem, I did not believe them. Until I read on a friend’s Facebook that her internet was out in Uganda because of problems in Kenya. Oh, Kenya. 

So, the finale ~ the completion ~ of my personal challenge to do something consistently for the entire month.... 

FPD #25: Green

Tinkerbelle in an avocado tree. Don’t you see that every day at your house? Julia is in a pretty big fairy phase. Our boys have become quite skillful at fairy play, particularly at hiding them in perfect fairy places. They are such good sports! I found this little surprise in the tree the other day as I was putting the table out under the tree for Maina’s birthday party. 

FPD #26: Night

A bit of a cheat picture. This was actually taken a few weeks before, on February 5th to be exact. My little girl is in love with the moon, and there were a few nights where the moon was just gorgeous. She loved it! And I love the fact that I took this picture myself! It was a total fluke. I tried again the following night and only got a blur of a yellowish moon or a bunch of black. 

FPD #27: Something I ate

A special treat - a turkey wrap. We were in Nairobi on the 28th. And Nairobi is the place we go to eat good food. And Java, which most visitors/mission teams love, gets quite old to Nairobians. But I am not a Nairobian anymore, so it is once again enjoyable And even more enjoyable ~ there are new things on the menu for the first time in a few years! The “new” items are not super new, but I was out of the country for six months so they are new to me. Wraps!!! A turkey wrap! Turkey meat is way too expensive for me to buy so this is lovely treat. What is crazy is that a few years ago I would not touch tomatoes or avocados, both of which this wrap was filled with....and it was delicious! 

A turkey wrap - definitely a surprise treat that I can’t wait to have the next time I go back to Nairobi! 

FPD #28: Money

This picture makes us look rich! Shillings. The largest bill in Kenyan shillings is 1000, which is about $12. Our rent is only a little over $500 per month, but we pay quarterly. And we pay in cash. TIK. This is my baby house manager and social worker counting out rent and monthly shopping money. And I think Kenyans like to count money. So, they count it at least twice, and always sort them into stacks of 10’s. And then count it again. And in the supermarket, they will probably count it again. I think they probably count it about seven times when you are standing in line at Tusky’s supermarket. Thankfully, our girls only counted twice and were on their way to pay our rent. 

FPD #29: Something I am listening to

I listened to this a lot for a few days, but it has since calmed down. This was the day we brought two new puppies and a mama German Shepherd to our house! Our big boy (12 month old Samson) wasn’t so sure about the puppies. And their mama, Ziva, wasn’t so sure about Sam and Lady who already live at our house! It was a bit of a three-ring circus around here for a few days, full of yelps, yaps, barks, growls, and tiny puppy whimpers. 

Now, challenge completed. Back to regularly scheduled blogging programing....