Samuel is coming Home!!

I am sooo excited for our dear friends, Jade and Nathan. They are bring baby Samuel home!!! Jade is on her way to Uganda to pick him up! She has posted on her blog a video from their first visit. Check out her blog: inaweofyourgrace.tumblr.com

I cannot wait to meet him! Maybe Jade will meet our child while she's there....

You Have Been So Good To Me

First off, Mr. Peter Nyombi responded to our request. He has given us paperwork that outline the guidelines for adopting/legal guardianship in Uganda. We will get back in contact with him, once we are further along in our homestudy.

Secondly, our church service today was SOOO moving. We spent some time discussing the devastation in Haiti and how we can help. We watched a slide show from Haiti, and the tears started to flow watching all those beautiful orphans.

We sang a song that touched my soul, "You have been so good to me", and I wanted to share some of the lyrics because God has been so good to me!

You have been so good to me
I came here broken, you made me whole
You have been so good
You have been so good to me

You have been so good to me
I came her mourning, you gave me joy
You have been so good
You have been so good to me

How can I thank you
There is just no way
How can I thank you
How could I repay
For your kindness
For you tenderness
For your constant presence here with me

This song is exactly how I feel at this very moment in my life! Your grace is enough for me!

A poem shared by my best friend Jenna

I wanted to share with all this poem that my cousin/best friend Jenna stumbled across.

I tiptoed into your room one night.
I watched you sleeping there.
Your tiny body looked so snug
Wrapped in peaceful slumber's care.
I thought of how you came to be
The child we'd longed to know.
I wondered at the sight of you:
"How could she let you go?"
Tears streamed down my cheeks as I
Felt the pain she must have known.
For I will have to let you go
Some day when you are grown.
A mother I might never meet
Had given me her son.
Yet, surely as you've filled my heart,
A piece of hers you'd won.
"How could she let you go?"
The questions kept returning.
And in the depths of my own heart.
A question kept on burning.
"How can I ever let you go
When years have come and gone?"
I stood there by your crib until
The nighttime turned to dawn.
And as the sun peeked through the shades,
The voice of God broke through.
"I trusted her to give him life
And now I'm trusting you."
"To show him what is right and wrong,
to love him and to be
The one who teaches him the way
To come back home to me."
"He wasn't hers to give, you know.
And he's not yours to own.
I've placed him in your life to love
But he is mine...on loan."

We've Jumped In

Sorry, its been awhile since I've posted anything. Our adoption application is finally turned in and is being processed. I dropped it off in person, rather than in the mail. I wanted to meet this lady, AJ, who is going to be our social worker/coordinator. We are a little overwhelmed right now with all the paperwork and forms!! We each are working on our adoption family inventory...which is a thorough autobiography of each of our lives. I am so blessed to have had such a wonderful childhood and such supporting/loving parents and family. I can only hope to be the parents that my parents were to me. I have been instilled with such Christian values, morals, and beliefs. This process may be very thorough, but I am learning so much about myself along the way.

Tyler and I sent an e-mail to Mr. Peter Nyombi, who is the Christian attorney in Uganda, requesting his assistance with the adoption. We have not heard anything back from him yet, hopefully soon!

I received a moving and heartfelt letter from our friends, Nate and Jade today. I am brought to tears when I think about all the support and encouragement they have brought to us. I pray that one day I can provide the same to another couple in need, who is walking down this path just like we are.

I have grown in my walk with Christ over the past two years.....I am no where near complete. I know many of you will think I'm crazy, but our infertility has been a blessing. It has changed us! For if we had not experienced it, I know I would still be a Sunday Christian. But, I now seek God daily, hourly, constantly! I can't get enough of Him. I know this walk is not going to be easy, but He will carry us through the valleys. There will be many times when there is only one set of footprints in the sand...


Please pray for our friends Nathan and Jade. They are awaiting to hear when they can return to Uganda to bring their baby Samuel home. God, please watch over him and keep him safe until his mommy and daddy can return for him.

She said "YES"

Well, we have officially taken the first real step in our Ugandan adoption journey! Barbara is over the entire Sanyu Babies Home (orphanage). So, the first step is to contact her and ask permission to come and find your child. I was SOOO nervous! I didn't know what to write/ask/say. Before, I started writing our letter, I prayed. I prayed for God to lead my hands and heart in this entire process, and especially right now as I ask for permission. I wrote about Tyler and my life story, about our infertility, about how God is leading us to Uganda and how we know without a doubt that He has our child there. I sent our letter on Thursday around noon. Barbara responded Friday morning:) She said yes! Yes, we can come! My GOD is soooo awesome!!!!

We will start our homestudy now. Once we are adoption approved, I will write to Barbara again and get a date to go to Africa!!!! I cannot tell you how good it feels to have made a first step....I wish we were leaving for Uganda today!

To our future child: I pray everyday for you! I pray that God is watching over you and protecting you. We will meet you soon! We promise to give you a wonderful, wonderful life.

A Note of Praise

I want to take a moment and praise God for blessing me with Jade. Seriously! This girl is amazing and I have not even met her face to face yet. My mother-in-law shared Jade's blog with me about 3 months ago to show us how beautiful their baby Samuel is. Samuel is coming home from Uganda this month:) Isn't it ironic how people enter your life? Her blog is SOOO amazing, filled with such emotion, and just touches your soul. After reading her blog and speaking with her, we knew there was no other way/no other country/no other time than now to begin our journey. And, God has given us an amazing side kick to help us along our way....So Jade, I will never, ever, be able to thank you enough for all your help/kind words/encouragement, and we cannot wait until we can meet you face to face:)

Adoption....

Tyler and I decided to start a family a couple of years ago. After much trying and treatment we were never able to conceive. I just couldn't understand why this was happening. I prayed to God often and asked him to give me a sign. I placed prayer requests into the church baskets, and still nothing. I begged and pleaded with Him! I even tried bartering with God, still nothing. But, He was giving me a sign! I was just not ready to accept it. He was giving us every sign to adopt. I finally accepted this the beginning of December 2009. It was not easy at the time. I was dealing with the pain of never experiencing the joys of pregnancy. I prayed over and over for God to take away my human selfish desires....and He did! God has a plan for each and every one of us. Trust in Him!!
After much research and investigation of various adoption agencies and types of adoption...we have decided to adopt our child from Uganda. Its so amazing how God works and who He works through!

"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. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you, you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:11-13