Ugandan Adoption Update
Little and I have been blown away by the support and encouragement we have received in getting our boys home. We are so close to our goal of going to Uganda and getting them! I wanted to give a detailed update as many of our readers, friends and ministry partners have been watching closely and asking for updates.
We finally received official photos of our boys and they are AWESOME! My kids are so excited, and each night at home we have a sweet time of prayer for the boys. Their names are Elam and Charles, ages 5 and 7. Please pray for them, for their salvation and for their HUGE adjustment transitioning into our family and the SWO community. We believe the scripture is clear on how God feels about adoption and are so blessed to be a part of this picture of God’s love, but we know it will be very difficult for them. We do not have romanticized ideas about this. The road has been short, and the longest part of the journey will be the next couple of decades.
Financially speaking, the total adoption cost is around $40k. That seems overwhelming, but we felt led specifically to adopt from Uganda because it is so expensive, which is a deterrent to many families. In addition, we will need to travel to Uganda twice in the next couple of months — once for a court date and again to bring our boys home.
We went in knowing God would have to provide this money, and that we didn’t have near that kind of personal funding. To date, we have received $26k in the form of donations. Praise the Lord! Many of these gifts have been in the form of $50 and $100, with some reaching into the thousands. It has been confirming to see God’s people get behind us. Our agency and caseworkers have been a joy to work with and have done the heavy lifting for us, which has made the whole process much easier.
We will spend a total of three weeks in country, split into two trips a month apart. We are waiting on a couple of final governmental documents to receive a court date. However, we cannot make the travel arrangements, or get our official court date, until we send our final and largest payment of $20k to the Ugandan government. We are $8k short of this. It seems like a racket, but it is what it is, and we are committed to getting our boys ASAP, which we know is in God’s timing. There are a couple of grants that we are in process of applying for now, but there is still financial need, and we trust the Lord with that as well.
Again, thank you all so much for prayer, encouragement and financial support. It has grown our family so much, and we are so close to the goal.
I will end with some highlights of where we are.
- International Home Study Fee — $2000, Paid
- European Adoption Consultants Inc. (our adoption agency who we give 5 stars) Fee — $11,000, Paid
- US Governmental fees and processing — $3000, Paid
- Ugandan Governmental fees and processing — $21,000, Need $8,000
- Travel over and back twice (Four tickets on the second return trip!) — $12,000, Still need
- Two grant applications in process that would equal a total of $5,000-$9,000
We are blessed to even share these needs and updates, with rejoicing, at what God has done. We will share pictures as soon as we are allowed. Please, PLEASE more than anything, pray for the huge life change about to occur in our family. Pray for Little and me, Kilby, Tucker, Lailee, and Elam and Charles as we move to the next phase of our lives together. We need God’s grace and wisdom in this all.