Our first African Adoption Fellowship here in Atlanta!

For the past year, I have seen the African Adoption Fellowships in Tennessee and I have always been highly jealous to be apart of such a rich adoption community. Well, last Friday night, Andrea, over at Babe of my Heart decided to start and host Atlanta's first African Adoption Fellowship at her house. There are a lot more families adopting from Africa or adopting African Americans in the states than I realized. God is working all over this country, not just in Nashville, TN! So neat to finally meet some of these families I only knew in blogs and others I was able to learn of for the first time. It was such an encouragement to know of others going through the same LONG WAIT as our family and some who have been home with their African children for a couple of years. I look forward to the next African Adoption Fellowship in one month! So special our children will grow up going through life with one another!

All the kids had the best time playing in the water in the Youngs backyard!

Baby Isaac was a sleep...Thank you Andrea for taking all these wonderful pictures!

Agency Newsletter

About six weeks ago, our agency asked me to write an article about our adoption process so far. Once Charles Tucker is home with us, they want to me write a follow up article of how he is adjusting to our family. I agreed to write the articles, but was a little anxious about writing something for a newsletter that many people would read. English was not my strength in high school, I was much better at math and science, I even got my best friend to practically write some stories for me back then. So it is humorous that God has compelled me to start a blog and share my life through writing and now someone else wants me to write an article, this is just too much. But, the Lord completely met me in my weakness and gave me the words to write. When we are weak, he is strong! (2 Corinthians 12:10) Isn't this the gospel?? He created the universe from nothing! He turned water into wine! He uses the weak to shame the wise! He can use my poor writing skills and transform them into something that brings him glory.

O.K. so here's the article the Lord inspired me to write! This is a testimony to his grace in my life in so many ways.


Waiting for Our Child from Uganda

 A year ago, in the midst of getting adjusted to life with two small children…adoption was the last thing on my mind. The Lord slowly began to break me, humble me, and show me I was striving after the things of this world. I was craving the praise of men, not the praise of God. I was chasing after my idols to make me happy, like finding the perfect order to my house or finding that “much deserved me time” of which the world tells me “I need.” My idols were not fulfilling me any more and I was miserable in my efforts. (Do not love the world or anything in the world…I John 2:15-17)
God in his mercy reached down and met me in my sin and bondage and began to show me where I can find life… true life. By understanding how much I need God and how my every breath depends on him is how the Lord began to change my desires. I was humbled by a 22 year old girl, Katie Davis, who adopted 14 girls
in Uganda. I thought…‘How does she take care of 14 young girls and I am barely surviving with two? And she does it joyously! She seems to have found true life and meaning in something the world thinks is absurd.’ She understood her great need for Christ, which compelled her to joyfully love others. In this same way, the Lord was giving me His eyes for orphans. I started to see the world and my circumstances in a different light. I could see the person and work of Jesus redeeming me. My husband was excited to see this huge change in me and was thrilled I was developing a heart for orphans. He always thought adoption was such an amazing picture of the gospel and he had high hopes for our family to adopt. Now that our hearts were aligned, we decided to step out in faith and start the process of adopting a child from Uganda. Not knowing where the money was going to come from and not even knowing if this was God’s will for us…we asked God to guide us and make our steps firm if this was his plan. If the LORD delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm. Psalm 37:23
Since the start of this journey eight months ago, the Lord has been faithful to guide our steps and show us His will. He has provided the funds in various ways to make this adoption happen. We are learning that this world is not our home; we are aliens and strangers on a journey toward our heavenly home, which has compelled us to transform our priorities. We have grown closer together as a couple and our marriage has never been stronger. In my fears and struggles the Lord has been so faithful to deliver me and give me peace…He is my respite. God continues to show me my GREAT NEED, so I will realize my GREAT SAVIOR. About two weeks ago…this adoption journey became real to us when we saw the face of precious Charles Tucker. We instantly knew he was the child God predestined to be in our family and we accepted the referral only two hours after seeing his face. We were in love and everything became worth it in that moment. Knowing our child is on the other side of the world… we aren’t comfortable sitting in our house going about our life…It feels like someone is missing. We just want to hop on a plane and bring him home! Obviously, it is not God’s
timing with the courts closing in two days, but we are trusting that we will see Charles Tucker in his perfect timing….but THIS IS SO HARD. I often worry…Are the aunties at the babies’ home holding him when he is sad? Does he have enough to eat? Who is playing with him? Does he feel sick? In these anxious thoughts the
Lord reminds me...HE has loved Charles Tucker from the beginning of time...HE will continue to love Charles Tucker...HE loves him so much better than we will ever be able to love him. Charles Tucker will hopefully be our son very soon, but Charles Tucker will be the Lord’s son forever. (Children are a gift from the Lord;
they are a reward from him. Psalm 127:3)
Once Charles Tucker is home with us, we hope he will know how much he is loved and accepted by our family. We hope he will start to experience this unconditional love of our heavenly father that compelled us to go around the world to rescue him from life as an orphan. We are aware of the struggles he will go through
being an African-American in a Caucasian family. Our hope is that he will know God ordained him to be our son and us to be his parents from the beginning of time. Our family hopes he will see the beauty in his adoption. (…but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
Romans 8:14-16)

Dee, Melissa, Mary Taylor, and Henry

Remember how I realized I needed to "Die to self" once again in the event of taking these pictures? If you don't remember, you can read about it on July 21, 2010. 

This is the picture they picked for the article.

Praise God...there is movement in Uganda!

I had a non internet day today...my mind and spirit are in need of a detox! But, by 5:00 p.m. today I just had to check for any updates! I checked my email first to learn that the first family who received a referral back in February has now received a court date as of September 24th! This is amazing news!!! Now our lawyer will file our papers and we will hopefully hear of a court date sometime after that! Then I went on facebook and a couple blogs...I learned that two more families matched with children from our babies home, also have court dates a couple days before this other family. We all have the same Ugandan lawyer advocating for us, so this means he managed to get three court dates all at once...who knows, there might be others too. We are so encouraged by this news! Our spirits have definitely been lifted today! The Lord's heart is for the orphan to have a home! We have hope that the end is near!! I know we have a couple more families in front of us, not sure how many, but we are thrilled things are MOVING along!! Praise God these children will soon have families loving on them! Charles Tucker, Henry and Mary Taylor can't wait to play with you!!

Two Months

It is hard to believe two months has past since seeing C.T.'s face! We learned today that our papers have not been filed, even though they were supposed to be filed last Monday, but our lawyer says they will be filed by the end of the week.  This really left us discouraged. Also, since August 16th when the courts reopened...nothing has happened...no one has received a court date...no movement. This often makes me think... "What's wrong with the Ugandan courts? Why is this happening to us? We are excited about adopting and bringing this child into our family...you would think this is what God wants? Why is this taking so long? Will C.T. ever be in our family? Because we are passionate about this...it won't happen." These were our thoughts tonight. We were taking our circumstances into our own hands. We were not believing that God loves us and wants what's best for us. It is really easy to get frustrated and angry, trying to find someone to blame, but the Lord reminds us that it is still not the right time...it is not time to get C. T....it is not time to hold him in our arms. Yes, the best place for an orphan is to be in a family who loves and cares for him or her, but God's ways are never what everyone else thinks is best. "Oh, he has to be in our family before Christmas... the books say it is not good for a child to go that long without a family..." God is weaving a much bigger story than we can see or imagine.

For some reason we are not ready to receive him into our family and C.T. is not ready to join our family. I can only trust that God's story is so much grander than any story I could ever write.
 Even though our family has been through waves of emotions...we continue to hold on to the hope that we will hold him in our arms one day. God is good and he is giving us the grace and peace to help us to trust in his timing.

For still the vision awaits its appointed time;
   it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it;
    it will surely come; it will not delay.

Habakkuk 2:3

I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. Isaiah 8:17

Henry's 4th Birthday Party

Finally, after two weeks, I am getting around to posting this fun event!

For the past several months Henry has been obsessed with Pirates, just like many other boys his same age...so I only saw it fitting to have a Pirate Birthday Party. The best place to accommodate several of our church and neighborhood friends would be our neighborhood park. I really wanted to make this special for him and save money, so this called for me to tap into my creative juices and the teacher in me, not to mention all the great ideas online.


The pirate napkins, yellow spoons, the balloons, and the turquoise blue table cloths all came from Party City. I found a deal on 72 red plastic cake plates at the Dollar Tree for $5.00.

 

When the kids first got to the party there were pirate hats on the table for them to decorate. I ordered these very cheaply from Oriental Trading Company.

Hugh and Andrew are just ready to get their hats done so they can run around and play...

Jack, Garrick, and Chad are taking a look at all the pirate stickers available for decorating their hats...

Miss Lilli is putting a lot of thought into her hat...

Ellie and Chad are busy decorating their pirate hats...

Hurry James...decorate your hat so you can play with the others!!

A week before the party we made our hats at home, including one for Charles Tucker!! Henry asked me if he was going to be at the party. I said, "I wish!!"

Once each child decorated their pirate hat, it was time to get tattooed! I also ordered these from Oriental Trading Company.

Nana is trying to put tattoos on Henry and Cousin Dexter...who already came to the party dressed as a pirate...

 Mary Taylor's not sure what to think about this tattoo...

Well, she loved them so much, she decided to get three on each arm...there's nothing like a southern girl in a smocked dress with tattoos all over her arm!

I made Henry's appliqued pirate shirt with my regular sewing machine...I have made many of these this summer. You would all be surprised how simple it really is, just tedious. I copied a design I found on the internet. (More on this later)

 

I made pirate fort signs out of left over brown paper from painting the inside of our house three years ago.

 Lilli petting cousin Dexter's dog Abe...

Dominick, Henry, and Chad... oh so kindly stopped to take a picture...

Miss Elie wasn't so sure about this party right after waking up from her nap...but Oh...Sam jumped right in the fun!

Henry and Dexter chill 'n on the sidelines...

Mary Taylor and Kaki decided to take a water break...

Pirate Henry, Pirate Dexter, and Pirate Hugh on the Pirate Fort...

Now that everyone has a pirate hat and a pirate tattoo, it's time for the "treasure hunt" led by second mate daddy, who's first mate? Well...I am of course!!

On your mark, get set, go...off to find the first clue...

It looks like it's at the Pirate Fort...

They found it...

Second clue...

Third clue...

Fourth Clue...they found the hidden treasure!!

The treasure box had the finishing touches to their pirate costumes: necklaces, rings, eye patches, and golden coins...

Thanks Nana for helping distribute all those necklaces..

 

Pirate Mommies....Jenna and Amber!

Henry, all decked out in his pirate gear..ready to blow out his candles...

 

I have always enjoyed cake baking, considering my enormous sweet tooth, but this was my first attempt at making a themed birthday cake. There are so many great ideas on the internet for birthday parties and cake ideas. I copied this straight from a website. It was also considerably easy, but not as inexpensive as you think. Eggs, butter, and sugar can add up quickly. (More on this later too!) 

"Happy Birthday to Henry!"

The awe of fire...Henry is just discovering it...can you tell? Going to have to watch him with matches.

After we cut the cake we decided to play the last game, "Pin the X on the Pirate Treasure Map", same idea as pin the tail on the donkey we used to play as kids. Also found this idea on the inter-web.

Everyone has to be  blindfolded to play the game!

Yes, even the birthday boy!

This game was a great idea for the four year olds and older, but it did not keep the attention of the younger ones, too slow of a game.

And the winner got chocolate gold coins!

Even Henry's teenage buddy, Donevan, came to help him celebrate!

Mary Taylor is living the life!

Henry and Lilli have been friends since birth. So it was extra special that she was their to celebrate!

This is Henry and Lilli at Henry's 2nd birthday party a couple of years ago. Look how cute and little they are! Gosh time really does fly!

Family shot without M.T.

Our family shot from 2 years ago at Henry's train birthday when I was pregnant with M.T.

This party went very well...I even enjoyed myself and I wasn't stressed. The weather was the best it could be at the beginning of August, but we were still drenched in this hot, sticky southern heat!