First 32 hours...

My parents were so gracious to come to Atlanta to get us off to the airport, I don't think we could have made it out the door with out them!!

 At 2:38 p.m. we boarded our plane to start our 32 hour adventure with two children under 4 to Uganda to meet our third child for the first time. WOW!

We made many stops until we reached Uganda.

The first stop was Chicago for a three hour layover...it was there we learned our new nephew was born, Charles Graham Jackson; they are going to call him "Graham". I can't believe my brother Matt, is a father. I am so excited for you guys. I am eager to get back and meet him. I don't know what you both think, but I think Graham has Matt's eyes and nose, but Kelly's mouth...what do you think? He is a very pretty newborn!

Then it was time to start our 8 hour journey to Brussels, Belgium. We were thrilled to have an extra seat to sit in and use for the kids to spread out on. The kids did relatively well and feel asleep after a while for five hours. Dee stayed awake the whole time, but I managed to get a little bit of sleep.

Our flight took off about 45 minutes late, so once we got to Brussels, we only had 45 minutes to make it to the next flight versus the hour and half we thought we had. So we were all freaking out, especially Dee. They made us go through customs again and then get on a bus to go to the next terminal. It was snowing and we definitely did not have enough clothes on...

We made it to the terminal with thirty minutes to spare, because our flight to Rwanda was delayed because of the snow and the de-icing machine was late. Despite our stress, we were thrilled to see familiar faces at our gate. Shelly Owens and Joy Harty were also traveling to Uganda. Shelly and Dan Owens are not only adopting one child, but two children from Uganda from "M". "M" is a government run orphanage that was in horrible conditions, but some Atlantans found out about it and formed a non profit organization called, Sixty Feet to help the children there. If you would like to find more information about Sixty Feet you can go HERE. So once we got on the plane we had to wait two hours to take off, which turned our 10 hour flight into a 12 hours. Once again, we had an extra seat to spread out on...God definitely took care of the details! Dee managed to get a couple hours sleep with Mary Taylor, while Henry and I watched a movie and tried to sleep.

We waited in the plane in Rwanda for the new passengers to come aboard, then within an hour we were off again for our 45 minute flight to Entebbe, Uganda. After 32 hours of traveling...we were almost there.

Our plane arrived in Uganda at 2:00 a.m. When we got off the plane we had to go down the stairs onto the tarmac in the open air. We were greeted by many smiling Ugandan faces, a cool breeze, and an unfamiliar smell. Once inside, we waited in a line for about twenty minutes until we received our visas to enter the country. Then we walked a small distance to the baggage claim and a nice boy name Joshua helped us take our luggage to the car. I was surprised that we did not have to go through extensive customs or anything...maybe because we were so late. Our driver, David, greeted us at the door and told us he had been waiting a long time for our plane to arrive. David and Eddie drove us 1 hour to our guest house in Ggaba community right outside Kampala, the capital city in Uganda. I thought the kids might fall asleep during the way to the guest house, but they were wide eyed to the new African world around them and it did not help that the driver thought he was Dale Earnhart (quote given by Dee). Yes, to drive in Uganda you have to be very brave, it is wild. You feel like you are on a wooden old roller-coaster...about to crash at any moment. And the kids do not ride in car seats, they sit in our laps!

Once we got to the guest house we basically brought our stuff upstairs, thanked God for bringing us safely to Uganda, and crashed...

pretty pretty's birthday, thanksgiving, a shower, and ......Leaving Tomorrow!!!!!.

This last week of packing and recovering from sickness, left us little room to celebrate Mary Taylor's 2nd birthday. We were going to bring cupcakes to playgroup one afternoon to celebrate with her friends, but it just didn't happen this year...there is always next year. All she really cared about was the icing on the cupcakes anyway! Every time I told her it was her birthday last week, she would look up at me and say, "Cake?"

We spent Thanksgiving day in Birmingham with my whole family, which was really crazy as usual, but a lot of fun...never a dull moment!

My father insists on taking pictures of the whole family...I have to say they did not turn out as bad as I thought they would with the 1:30 bright light and the way he arranged everyone. I just have to close my mouth and walk away and do lots of editing when I get home. (: Love that he is sitting right in the middle where he thinks he should be...you got to know my father, as some of you do! The story of my life. I don't think I ever made it through one Easter picture taking session as a little girl without crying. He used to drive me crazy....who am I kidding, he still does!!! But, I love you Dad!!!!

Leslie, my wonderful sister -in-law made this cheese pumpkin, which she said was very simple. I will have to get the recipe from her for next year! Too cute, I love festive foods...

My cousin Corrie made these sand dollar ornaments for everyone in the family for us to hang on our tree. She collected them at our beach trip back in September. What a great idea!! She is very creative and artistic, she even has a blog where she sells her art. You can find it HERE.

 She even made one for Charles Tucker!!!

We also celebrated by giving Matt and Kelly...and Piper (their cute dog) a shower for their new baby boy to be...which hopefully will be born tomorrow! So fun to have two new children enter the Jackson family this week!! Can't wait to hear their news!!

After the shower, we celebrated Mary Taylor's birthday by opening presents. Big brother was there to help her, that's for sure! She was so cute, showing all the gifts to everyone! She loves these new Elmo books that my grandmother gave her...we hope to fit these in our suitcase, I think C.T. will like them too!

Don't forget about Bubbles the Bear...he did not want to miss out on the festivities...

That afternoon we came back to Atlanta for the night and then headed over to the DeBardeleben Thanksgiving lunch and birthday celebration...which was her actual birthday...November 26th! I was going to try to make her a cake and put her  beauty and the beast figurines on top, but that just didn't happen. Instead we headed on over to Publix to buy a cookie cake, let her pick out a balloon, and allowed her to get gold fish, because it was her birthday! She loved it and  had no idea what she was missing out on!

 

Aunt Julia and Nana enjoyed helping Mary Taylor singing blow out her candles..

Cousin Dexter was a big help too!!

Henry and Cousin Dexter had a great time fooling around the house...while Daddy and Uncle Will watched the amazing Auburn/Alabama game. War Eagle!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nana got Henry an airplane for Henry to play with on our 24 hour flight to Uganda....

Mary Taylor loved the new book bag Nana gave her...

Poo Paw finally got some kisses from Mary Taylor...

She is going to be really upset that we can't bring this on the airplane....

Happy Birthday to my 2 year old!!! So hard to believe you are already two, wow does time fly. Two years ago you came into this world the day before Thanksgiving and because of you our lives will never be the same. You came to us just as hard or harder to deal with than Henry. You had lots of eating and sleeping problems for the first four months of your life. After some lovely nurses helped us, you have become an amazing sleeper, but you are still a horrible eater...guess it wasn't the breast milk...it was just you! The last two years have been some of the hardest two years and also the best at the same time. God has broken me down and changed me and redeemed me through your life. Through your life and other circumstances God led me to depend on him more and led us to adopt. As crazy as that may sound, God used you to get to Charles Tucker and now in two days we will get to meet him for the first time and then in a weeks time get to bring him into our family. Thank you Mary Taylor for making your mommy find true joy in Jesus. Your daddy and I pray that one day you will find that Jesus is the only one who will fulfill your hearts true longing. You are a joy and a precious gift from God. We love you "pretty pretty"!

And finally..yes WE ARE LEAVING TOMMOROW!!!! We board our plane at 2:38 pm in Atlanta. Please pray for safe travels, peaceful children, patient parents, and helpful and understanding passengers. (: We will see Charles Tucker on Dec.1st for the first time. Please pray that the first day goes well and our children behave at the babies home. I will be updating everyone through email from now until we get home, so please check your email for updates.

One week until we board our plane to Uganda!

We are busy finishing up packing, checking airline seats, making sure we have enough chargers for all of our media devices to keep our two crazies occupied through the 24 hours of traveling we are about to embark in 7 short days!! Hard to believe we have one week and one day until we hold Charles Tucker for the first time.
CR- A- ZY! We have been counting down the days with this paper chain I made. This is a picture of Henry counting down 10 days until we leave.

 

 I think it helps Henry to really anticipate that we really are going to Uganda! We will not just continue to talk about orphans and our brother Charles Tucker, but we are actually really going to bring him home!! It's for real! When I asked him if he was excited about going to Uganda, he said. "I am scared." Why are you scared? "I don't want to get eaten by a lion." Yes, his daddy told him he could possibly get eaten by a lion, so now he is terrified! Really, he started crying the other day about it. But despite his fear of lions, I think he is getting excited, especially about the airplane. Watch this video of him singing, "I'm leaving on a jet plane..."

(remember to pause the music at the bottom of the page)



Mary Taylor also seems to understand we are going to bring Charles Tucker home. Any time I am talking about Africa, airplanes, adoption, or mention the word court date. She looks up at the person and says, "Cha Tu". It is the cutest thing! She really gets it, for an almost two year old! Yes, Mary Taylor will be two on Friday. Hard to believe she was born two years ago! She is one funny girl!! This is the bear we bought her tonight at Kroger, because we realized we have not bought her a birthday gift yet. Every time she walks in Kroger she demands that this large bear ride in our cart so she can cuddle with it. So, tonight, we thought this would  be the perfect birthday present. So far it was a good choice. Mary Taylor and Daddy decided on the name "Bubbles," because that is one of the only names she could pronounce. I am sure in a couple of months Bubbles will fall apart, but for now...he serves his purpose. She ate with Bubbles tonight, Bubbles watched her take a bath, and now Bubbles is sleeping in her crib.  I am sure she will try to sneak him on the airplane, but I am certain Bubbles would not count as a carry on bag and we are not about to pay extra money to bring Bubbles Uganda!

***Please continue to pray for other families who hope to get court dates before the Christmas break in Uganda. They have a small window that could possibly open up this week. I would love for our friends to be with us in Uganda to join us for this adventure!!

Exactly one year from yesterday....

November 17th, 2009....we decided to adopt from Uganda!! How cool is that??? God predestined us to get a court date precisely, to the date....one year after he led us to this wonderful country in Africa...UGANDA! He has given us an amazing passion for a place we have never been, but only seen in pictures. God is sooo good to give us little gifts like this to realize his sovereignty is all over this adoption. You can read about it HERE. He knew our child was there all along!! I am getting chills as I write this!! Truly AMAZING!! Charles Tucker, your heavenly father has had his arms around you since before you were created. He has taken care of you for the past two years and in only 12 short days, you will be in our arms!!!!!

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. Ephesians 1:4-6

God was most definitely Glorified!

During the last twenty four hours I have gone from being anxious, excited, nervous that we might receive a court date today, but knowing it would be too good to be true after too many disappointments....to this morning completely relying on the strength of my father to get me through the first part of the day without a break down of what could or could not happen. Then around 11:30, I heard my phone ring and I saw our social worker's name and my heart began to race. I picked up the phone and said, "Oh gosh". Our social worker said, "Hi Melissa, how are you?" From the sound of her voice I knew it was good news. She said with a laugh, "You have a court date for December 3rd." I exclaimed, "Thank you Jesus!" And then I screamed! "I cannot believe this, oh my goodness! I can't believe this!!! Thank you Lord!" I am sure she was excited to bring me good news today after all the times she had to listen to me cry over the phone in the last month. I was truly in shock!!

All I could think about was, the Lord wanted it to happen like this. In the last twenty four hours hundreds of people around the country were praying for us and several other families who are in the process of adopting their children from Uganda. The Lord wanted his children, including me, to be fully reliant on him, to bring him the most glory. Well, I certainly feel the Lord was glorified through the wait of this process. I don't know the overall big reason why we kept facing obstacles, but I do know this adoption process has brought many believers to their knees. Like John Piper says, "God is most glorified, when we are most satisfied in him." I have been forced to fully rely on my savior with no other way to try to manipulate the situation. This has been so freak-en hard, but I have also "tasted and seen that the Lord is good" on many different occasions.

Now, I can let my guard down after so many months of guarding my heart, in fear of never getting a court date to see Charles Tucker's face in person and hold him in my arms. Well, tonight I have looked at 125 pictures and watched all 4 videos of him that many friends have been so gracious to take for us over the past 5 months. We even received more pictures from two different friends this week. God is sooooooo taking care of this whole process, way more than I can ever know.

So we have to be in Uganda on December 3rd for our court date. We are taking our whole family with us, so we decided it is probably best to get there a couple of days before to get adjusted to the time change and the jet lag. So our flight leaves on Monday, November 29th at 2:30 p.m. out of Atlanta. We arrive 23 hours later in Entebbe, Uganda. We were a little nervous after we realized we would have to buy Mary Taylor a plane ticket, because she will turn two next Friday, but the Lord completely worked it out. The tickets were so much cheaper than we expected, because we were able to book two weeks in advance, opposed to five days in advance. And I want to say a big thank you to my parents for giving us their credit card points for 80% of the plane tickets. You guys are such a blessing to us, thank you for allowing the Lord to use you in this way to bring your grandchild home! All these little details are such an answer to prayer...so amazing to see the Lord provide.

These 12 days will be a joyous time celebrating and anticipating our adventure to Uganda to bring home our "Cha Tu"! We won't have to rush or stress to make a flight in the next couple of days, God is good and we will even be able to see all of our family members before we take off during Thanksgiving next week. It will be a great send off!

Once we get to Uganda on November 30th, we will go see Charles Tucker right away. We will hang out with him at the babies home until our court date on December 3rd. Our whole family will go to the court date including C.T. Then probably the judge will ask us to come back in a week to get our verbal and written ruling to obtain Legal Guardianship of him. Then we will be able to bring him back to our guest house for good. Daddy and Henry will leave soon after this to come home. Mary Taylor will stay with us the remainder of the trip. So I will have two, two year olds, by myself, in Africa!! This should be interesting!! Once we have Legal Guardianship, we will start the process of getting him a visa, which could take several weeks. We have our flights booked for January, but who knows...we might be finished before Christmas. I am not worried about any of these details yet, I just want to enjoy what the Lord has done today. I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have so much to be thankful for. I am just overwhelmed by the goodness of the Lord right now and how he has worked out all the details... I have been stressing over for so many months. It is amazing how much better this news of a court date has become after all the waiting and anticipating....I have to say it is soooo worth it!! Charles Tucker is soooo worth it! The Lord is sooooooooooooooooo worth it!!

Taste and see that the LORD is good;
   blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. 

Psalm 34:8

The heavens proclaim his righteousness, 

and all the peoples see his glory. Psalm 97:6

Alleluia!!!!

WE HAVE A COURT DATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DECEMBER 3RD

GOD IS SO GOOD!

Macy's Pink Pig and a Ugandan Wednesday

 Today we ventured out to the mall to ride The Pink Pig, Atlanta's longtime holiday tradition. Considering we might not be here for Thanksgiving and Christmas I wanted the kids to have a chance to squeeze in some holiday fun. So we also paid Santa Claus a visit, minus the pictures, because they were too expensive and I did not think they would appreciate me taking my own. I don't tell my children Santa Claus is real, but I still let them enjoy the fun of it. Henry still seems to think he is real. We also managed to squeeze in a toy store, Pottery Barn Kids, and Chickfila for lunch...so we had a full morning. Our first stop was the interactive T.V. on the ground, not sure what the proper name is. 

We were so glad our friends the Curley Girlies and Big Brother and Little Brother were able to join us.

 I think Henry had to go in "time out" three times for pushing and tackling his friends on the ground. Me: "Why were you pushing your friends?" Henry: "Mommy, they were in my way. I said, excuse me." Me: "Oh, well that explains it." Lots to learn....

 
And daddy stopped by for a while too...

And then when the kids were getting a little too rough and we were all tired of saying, "Where's baby brother?" We knew it was time to go ride the all time favorite...Pink Pig...

So funny how Henry loves taking pictures now. And sweet littliest Curly Girly and Mary Taylor have grown to be sweet friends.

Since 1953, Macy's Pink Pig has been delighting generations of Atlantans. Come ride Priscilla the Pink Pig on train tracks through a life-sized storybook featuring Priscilla and her friends. Tickets are available at the Macy's Pink Pig kiosk inside the East mall entrance at Lenox Square. A portion of the ride's proceeds will benefit Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

And here we go blog readers, what you've all been waiting for...The Pink Pig! It costs 3 dollars per person to ride for four minutes. Very cheesy, but the kids love it...so I guess that's why we do it!!??

***My sweet friend, Rachel over at Heirs of Christ is doing a Ugandan Wednesday fast starting today at 4:00 p.m. and going to 4:00 p.m. tomorrow. She is encouraging her friends and family to join her in praying for the Lord to move mountains for several families in the adoption process in Uganda.  She specifically hopes to bring Amelia, her precious 7 month old Ugandan little girl, home very soon. She is only one of many families who are waiting and yearning to see their Ugandan children in 2010. Many families are relying on the mercy of the courts, including us, so please join with us by fasting if you feel the Lord leading you to do so, but mainly praying with us today from 4:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. tomorrow. We are looking forward to hearing good news tomorrow that we have received a court date or been assigned a judge...Pray that our hearts will be aligned with what the Lord wills for us in this process. Thank you for all of your encouraging words and prayers...they are carrying us through this process.

Our Soccer Star...

About a week ago Henry finished up his first soccer season. I was sad to see it come to an end, but also glad he was able to finish his season by playing every game. I was worried we would be in Uganda for half of them, so this is one good thing that has come out of our delayed court date. Henry loved running around with his new buddies attempting to touch the ball. He had a couple good kicks and one goal all season. Pretty good for a first time soccer player.

I think his favorite part of the whole season was receiving his first trophy ever from Coach Brian.


Look at that face...

Hugh and Henry admiring their new treasures...

The whole team celebrating a great season....

Henry's new friends Sebastion and Triston, who also live in our neighborhood...sweet friends...

Can't wait for spring soccer!!

**No news today...looking forward to Wednesday for great news, but scared to death there will be no progress. Please pray that the Lord gives us peace if we are disappointed again, that we will embrace his plan for our journey.

Happy 60th Birthday...

...to my Mom, aka...Kaki

On Friday night we drove to Birmingham to surprise her for her 60th Birthday! I definitely think she was surprised!

 Henry and my sister Amelia...

 

  T. J. and Kaki...

Kaki and Mary Taylor...

 Amelia, Henry, my brother Matt, his wife Kelly, and Dee at a nice little Italian Restraunt...

 My parents friends Bill and Tricia who live at the Lake...

Happy Birthday to Kaki....

 
Happy Birthday to you...blow..

Kaki, Mary Taylor, and me...

To my beautiful mother who turned 60 on Saturday!! 

Thank you for always being so very sacrificial to us four kids for 32 years, a wonderful wife to our father for 35 years, and an amazing grandmother for 4 years! What an example you are to our family of unconditional love and support! Thank you mom for your dedication to us. We love you!!

***Please continue to pray for all of our adoption papers to be in the right place this week, so we can get a much needed court date to bring Charles Tucker home!