"They're freakin cute"

That pretty much sums it up. We're on the iPhone right now so sorry this will be short. I'm hoping soon to share in more detail what today looked like. We are so blessed that the orphanage director let us take them today. We go to court in less than a week.

There were a lot of firsts today, such as first time using a toilet, using the sink, taking a shower, etc. The kids do not speak English, but we have been told they are so happy. Although they speak a different language they want the same things. Today, Keith was in the back of the van with Will and S and the kids were all really quiet. All of a sudden S starts chattering away and we asked the driver what he was saying. Of course S was asking, "Are we there yet?"

We'll put some more details about today in our next post when we have a laptop and better wifi. No pictures either as We can't get a fast enough connection.

We are coming kids

After arriving in Kampala at 2AM on Wednesday, we woke up the next morning at Emmaus Guest House to beautiful song birds and an incredible view of Lake Victoria and the homes across the Kampala hillsides. We were so anxious to see the kids that we left Kampala at 1PM after getting water and a fistful of Uganda Shillings. You need 2490 for every dollar. It's fun pulling a 10,000 bill out of my pocket until I realize it just bought me 5 bottles of water!! Gas is twice as expensive as in US. But everyone associated with a government agency is driving diesel Land Cruisers! I hope to drive one before I leave.

After getting money and water we are lunch at Cafe Java (awesome!) and headed out on our 4hr drive to Ft Portal to get S and R. This is where Africa time hit us right in the face. 4hrs became 7, and we had to go straight to Mountains of the Moon, where we enjoyed a nice dinner and crashed. This morning we woke up and enjoyed breakfast and fresh brewed coffee! Everything is instant here. Thanks to those of you who told me to load up on Starbucks VIA. Now we are about 10 minutes away from the orphanage and we are very excited. We will try to post some pictures and more updates soon.

Are we there yet?

Sitting in the Brussels airport, Lauren and I are fairly happy with the first two legs of our trip. Yes, Caroline asked "How much longer?" When we had been in the air for 1 hr heading to Dulles (probably bc there were no TVs), but other than that, the kids have been great! It helped that we got an economy plus upgrade to Brussels and there were unlimited movies playing. It's 2AM Austin time and Caroline, Lauren and I are still going strong. William ran out of gas 2hrs before we landed which probably means he'll be wandering the plane to Entebbe while we are all passed out. He loves the airplane lavatory, so I'm sure we'll find him in there flushing Legos down.

Well, it's almost time to head over to our gate and get ready for another 10hrs (where's a good Jack Bauer marathon when I need one?)

We have a referral and we've accepted!

We officially accepted a referral to adopt precious siblings! We cannot share their names yet or show pictures, but I can tell you that Caroline and Will are going to have a new brother AND sister. Our soon to be new son who we will call "S" is 5 and our soon to be new daughter we will call "R" is 4. Yes, you heard that right! FOUR kiddos! We will have two 4 year olds, a 5 year old, and a 7 year old.

Our next steps are we are waiting for our attorney to prepare an affidavit, he'll send that to us where we will then prepare a dossier, and then it is submitted to court. After that, we wait for our court date. We could have very little time between when we are notified of our court date and when we actually travel. Once we get our court date we will travel and we will be in U*anda for about 6-8 weeks with the whole fam!

Right now we are asking God to get us into court before courts close for the holidays. We would love to all be together as a family during the holidays.

It's here people! The journey is only beginning!

I read this last night and love it:
"Adoption is not just about couples who want children-or who want more children. Adoption is about an entire culture within our churches, a culture that sees adoption as part of the Great Commission mandate and as a sign of the gospel itself."
Russell Moore "Adopted for Life"

My first mobile blogging

I'm attempting this b/c I am longer able to dedicate blogging time on my laptop. I installed the blogger app and it's so easy!

So here we have it our only Halloween pic! DH (that stands for dear husband for those of you unfamiliar w/lingo.) :) and I had a virus. It was awful and I won't go into details.

Here are our little cowgirl and spiderman.

Movin on up

#12 on waiting list!!

First grade begins

We are LOVING first grade. I don't know what it was about kindergarten, but first grade is SO much better. Kindergarten was more about being creative and I hate that, just being honest here. I'm very type A. So first grade is all about worksheets, math facts, reading, spelling and then of course there are projects (which of course I hate because I'm not a dreamer...lol).

We've really excelled in our homeschooling 3 days a week this year. I have one on one time with C in the mornings and we are able to get a lot done and get ahead. University model has been the best fit for our family. We love the flexibility of being able to travel when we want and the whole no homework in the afternoons is huge. My hope is that if we continue with this form of schooling when W is in kinder C will be in 4th and mostly independent on our at home days. My BIGGEST fear is homeschooling more than one kiddo at a time, so I'm pushing C pretty hard. I don't let her get away with much and I never read the directions for her with her assignments. I'm a marine and little grace is shown. Totally kidding here, but on our at home days (when we're together ALL day)our messy sides come out and forces us to deal with our sin.

Annual silly picture

Adios amigos!