Countdown Begins!

We are so very excited to share our great news: We are leaving for Uganda this Tuesday... only 4 days left! We will arrive in Kampala Wednesday night and will finally get to hold and hug our little man. My last night of work was yesterday, so we are getting the last of our packing done this weekend. Everyone is asking when we will return but it's a huge unknown at this point. There are not many families that have been through the complete process and everyone has had a different experience. We are praying to be back by Thanksgiving. V will be out of time off by mid-November, so there is a possibility that he will have to leave us there to travel back alone once B gets his passport and visa. But we're not focusing on that right now, we are simply looking forward to having our family on one continent.

When we get back to DFW please join us in celebrating B's homecoming at the airport. I realize it will be a very last minute event, since we will be adjusting our return time line on a day by day basis--- but we would love to see everyone! We will have a photographer there to take pictures about 30 min to 1 hour before we arrive and then take pictures once we meet everyone at the international arrival point.

The purpose of this blog was to be able to update everyone at once about our experiences while in Uganda. I will be updating more frequently now and look forward to hearing from everyone too!

MATCH DAY!

So.... June 23rd officially became Match Day for the Smith family!! Unfortunately, Ugandan law prohibits me from posting pictures of our son. He is almost 18 months old and is the cutest thing. If you see me in person, I have plenty of pictures to share. We are in the process of applying for a court date. The courts are closed from July 15th to August 15th, so we are anticipating a travel date in late August. It can't get here fast enough. The wait for a referral is exhausting but I agree with everyone that the wait is worse when you have a little face staring at you in photos waiting for you to bring him home.

We will be getting a package together for the baby home in the next few days so that we can send some special gifts to him and other much needed items for the other children. Today, we exposed our self to the "Build a Bear" experience... that place is crazy. I couldn't imagine how an establishment could stay open selling $50 teddy bears, but apparently parents bring their children on a regular basis (per the store salesperson). They come for the special/limited edition bears, new clothing and accessories. It's a minefield considering our practical $14 bunny turned into $50 by the time I had him clothed and got him a cute little passport. I'm sure we also looked pretty hilarious in the corner trying to record our personalized message over and over. We felt incredibly uncomfortable talking into the tiny recorder. I kept saying "I really sound like that?" By the time we left, I was already imagining how long till I can bring my son back and help him pick out another bear with his specifications...I think they put something in the air in that place....I'm sure he will not ask me to record my voice in the next one. :)

Adopted for Life

Last weekend, we had the amazing opportunity to attend an adoption conference that featured Dr. Russell Moore as the keynote speaker. If you don't already know, Dr. Moore is an important influence in the Christian adoption community. He wrote Adopted for Life which is a theology of adoption and he is also the Dean of Theology at Southern Seminary. When we made the decision to adopt, his book formed the groundwork for our own adoption theology. Many adoption books we came across were more "how to" than "why." This book has changed our lives and our hearts. We have given this book as a gift to our families and friends which we hope spurs the commitment to adoption and orphan care in our communities. As embarrassing as it might have felt, we found an opportunity to talk with Dr. Moore about the impact of his book in our lives. We also had to get a picture! I just bought a lifebook for Baby Smith and it has a page to place pictures of "People Who Helped Bring Us to You" and like it or not... Dr. Moore, you are going in the lifebook!!