Murphy Lee

I’m working on a HUGE project at the moment but I can’t say what it is because I don’t know if the person that it’s for reads my blog or not. So, it’s a secret. But, I was working on it last night and apparently Murph felt the need to supervise.

Please Pray

When we started seriously looking into International adoption we called the only two agencies we knew of that were working in Uganda. We had heard from others that before you decide on an agency call them and ask for some references of other families that are using the same one. They will always give you their contact information and you can call them to see what their experience has been with the agency. So, the one we liked the best was in Texas...we called and talked with the caseworker who was awesome and we asked if she could put us in touch with some other families who were also trying to adopt.
We met the Via family who were adopting a little girl from Uganda. We emailed several times and it was so great to be able to ask her questions about what they were going through.
Well, they have now been in Uganda for 9 weeks...their entire family actually went which is so cool! But yesterday, Tasha and the kids came home without their dad and their new little sister and they don't know when or if she will ever be able to come home. Josh stayed to continue to plead their case with the US Embassy, but without a miracle, 3 year old Alethia will never know what it's like to have a mom and dad. She was surrendered by her birth parents to a babies home when she was 9 months old. The Via family and everyone involved, including their agency have been under the impression that her father had died of AIDS. They just found out this week that is not the case. Both of her parents are alive although unwilling and unable to care for her. However, under the US or Uganda court system (I'm not sure which), she no longer meets the requirement of being an orphan, therefore she is unable to be adopted. The sad thing is that this is a brand new policy, so new that had their judge shown up to court when he was supposed to several weeks ago for their original court date, everything would have been fine and they would already be home by now with their daughter.
I know the entire family is heartbroken, but they know God is bigger than what they're going through right now. They don't understand, but they know He has them right where He wants them. Please though if you're reading this stop for just a second and pray for them, they need prayer. Pray not only for them, but for little Alethia. She has known what it feels like to have a loving family surround her for the last 9 weeks, and there is a chance now that all of that will be taken away and she'll be sent back to the babies home.

Change

Sometimes there are just certain times in life that are more difficult than others and I feel like I’m in one of those right now. It’s like a season, and I feel like I’m in a really tough winter season. I HATE winter, I hate being cold, I don’t like the big baggy clothes I need to wear to stay warm, I hate how dry my skin gets and having to wear lotion on my hands (I hate wearing lotion on my hands, anywhere else is fine, NOT THE HANDS), blah, blah, blah.

But I know winter is always going to come as long as I live in Indiana and I feel like I’m usually pretty well prepared for it. I put away my cute summer clothes and fun sandals and start pulling out the thick socks and bulky scarves and I prepare for the fact that I’m not going to have a tan for the next few months. Even though I don’t like winter AT ALL, I’m prepared for it because I know it’s going to come and by the time April rolls around I’ve kind of forgotten how cold and dreary it was for those 3 or 4 months of winter because I love summer so much.

But I was so not prepared for this season of life that I’m in right now, I’m not saying that it’s bad, it’s just different and more difficult but I don’t think it’s necessarily bad. I think it’s going to be a time to develop new relationships and try even more new things and hopefully break down some walls I’ve put up.

Scott and I have always had a great core group of friends whether it’s at church, at the gym or through different activities we like to do and it’s been good. But things have changed with so many of those friends, many have started having children which has been great. We want to have children, we’ll try biologically AND we’ll try through adoption and if it’s God’s will, one day we’ll have kids also which is super exciting to think about. But right now we’re kind of the ODD couple. We don’t fit in with the newly married couples anymore and we don’t fit in with the couples who now have kids. Of our close core group of friends we’re the only couple that doesn’t have kids yet. So, things are just different and I wasn’t prepared for how different they would be. And honestly I feel like I’ve let the difference define me and at times it’s made me a not very nice person. I’m sure people around me have thought that I wasn’t happy for them which soooooooooooo was not the case, I just let the difference affect me in a negative way. So I’ve decided to embrace the difference and find others that are in the same season we are because I know we’re not the only ones.