Our Journey to Moses video...... updates to come, I promise.

I have been absolutely terrible about getting back to my blog. But we are home with Moses and have been since June. Here is our story. I PROMISE to catch you all up soon!! Things have been just a bit busy.

5 more sleeps!!!!!!! and plans

This post is going to be all over the place!!!!!!!!!1

To say things have been extremely crazy here is an understatement.  A TON has happened since my last post. The kids and I have been sick pretty much since March! Cole is better, Averie is right behind him and  now that I am on my 3rd round of steroids and 4th round of antibiotics I think I am going to be fine. :)  Averie had been complaining about her foot during both All Star basketball and Softball for about 2 weeks so I took her to the dr.  After seeing the specialist it was determined that she had stress fractured 2 bones in her foot.  I truly just nearly lost it- it doesnt take much for that to happen these days!  They said that she would have to wear a boot for up to 8 weeks.  For those of you that dont know a boot is better than crutches but still a total pain..... and an even bigger pain on an airplane and in Uganda!!!! But we got the great news last week that her foot has healed much faster than expected (Praise God!) and even though she had to miss her Regional BBall tournament that she could start working her way out of the boot and NOT be in it when we go to Uganda!! I do have to tell you though that her biggest concern was how she was going to be able to squat down and meet her brother for the first time with her boot on.  The first thing she did when they put the boot on her  was jump down and squat.  I thought she would be devastated about her sports.  She wasn't happy about missing basketball and softball but the only thing on my sweet girls mind was her brother in an orphanage.  I am so blessed by her and her heart.

We are leaving for Uganda next Saturday, the 12th!!!!!!!!!!!!  We are taking our entire family and are preparing to be gone at least a month.  We will appear in court on May 18th.  Once we get our ruling, we have to apply for his passport, and then his visa.  Please be in prayer that all of this happens in a timely manner but that most of all that God would be glorified in ALL of it.  We are looking forward to spending this time in our son's birth country.  We are planning on some fun thrown in there as well as some ministry.  My mom is leaving with us and staying for about 12 days and then my dad and step mom will be coming in a few weeks.  We are so truly blessed by all of the family support we have received.

If you would like to stay updated on our travels and prayer request please send me an email at mandiecantrell@gmail.com.  There will also be some updates on FB.  I am going to take this blog down until we get back. Some recommend that people either go private with their blogs or take them down.  I honestly am not sure the reason but dont have time to think that thru so I will pull it until we get back or at least headed this way so as not to take any chances.

I will be sharing photos as soon as I am allowed but trust me he is the cutest little thing ever. Large brown eyes and eyelashes that should only be allowed on a girl.  Just precious.

Prayer Requests:
 -Safe travels
-Health for ALL of us
-Judge and entire court process
-Our hearts and for our sweet M as we all figure out this family/attachment thing as he has endured more in       his short life than anyone should have to.

We have been asked about donations because we took 350 lbs of formula last time.  Because of room in our suitcases (or lack thereof) we are not taking physical donations with us but are collecting money from those that feel led to give.  We will be using that money to meet the needs there. We plan to spend some time in a village with some friends that live and serve there.  They are raising money to build a clinic to serve the people in their village. They lost a little girl a few months back to malaria and have numerous medical needs that are claiming lives that are Totally preventable.. If you feel led to give you can get the money to me before we leave.

Thanks so much for ALL of your kind words and prayers during this almost 2 yr journey to this child.  We appreciate them more than you could ever imagine.
 

BIG EXCITING NEWS!!!

I have not posted in soooo long and sooo much has happened that I just keep putting it off because I am not even sure where to start. There have been so many changes in us as far as what is important and our eyes have been opened even MORE. There have been long periods of waiting followed by a little excitement followed by days of prayer..... and then after almost 2 years of praying and seeking Him our answer came!!

We are so very excited to share with you that we have a little boy waiting on us in Uganda. We are so blessed and it has been pretty exciting around here. However the excitement is turning into urgency. We want to get to him as soon as possible. Our hearts ache for him. I cry for him, our children pray daily that he would have a full belly and that he would be safe. He is 20 months old and almost exactly 2 years younger than Cole. He has a room, bed and clothes in our house now. We have repainted and moved Averie to the guest room so she has her own bathroom and the boys will share a bathroom. If you know me though you know that Cole still sleeps in my room and sweet M will too....

What happens next? Good question. We have been filed for court and so now we wait again. We are hoping to hear in the next week or 2 when our court date will be. Once we hear it could be within 2 weeks or it could be 4 months. Obviously we are hoping it will be ASAP. We are taking Averie and Cole with us when we go. We will get there several days before court. If everything goes as planned we will be in Uganda for about a month and will come home as a family of 5!! Please pray for us and for sweet M.

Unfortunately I will not be able to post pictures or other identifying information until he is ours but trust me.... he is just so sweet. His eyes are big and he has beautiful long eye lashes. I do have several (like 25) pictures of him. I have a sweet friend in country right now that has made a couple of visits to love on him for us. He also has a picture book of pictures of us.

We appreciate your prayers and support. I will keep you more in the loop... I promise.. :)

What has REALLY been going on.....

I could give you a million reasons for the EXTREME lack of updates since our trip to Africa and they could all be very valid but I haven't shared much because I wasn't ready and wasn't sure how much to share and frankly the situation changed by the day. I am over all of that now and want to fill you in the best I can so I can then do more posts about the time we spent there.

On the first day we were in Africa we felt like we had found our child. I can't really explain it but we both felt like that. We were taken hours out of the city with reps from our attorneys office and met a probation officer ( like a social worker or CPS in the US) because she had 1 orphanage and 2 children in foster care for us to visit. I wont go into all of the details but we first went to the orphanage and left with very heavy hearts, it was the first orphanage I had ever been in. We then went to the foster homes. The little girl we immediately connected with was at the first one. We were assured all of these children were ready to be adopted. We walked almost a half mile off a dirt road thru corn, goats,and cows just to get to her. We spent time with her, took pictures with her, and then conveyed our feelings to the PO, attorney, and attorney assistant that was with us. Things seemed to be progressing for us to spend more time with her.

then. everything. changed.

Weird emotions started flying ( not by us) , we had to hand her back and leave. We were originally told we would know something in 2 weeks, a couple of days later everything seemed fine. We visited the other orphanages and then had to come home. VERY heavy hearted. Once again things seemed to turn our way. At one point it was a very real expectation to have her home by Thanksgiving or Christmas Then (yep you guessed it) they turned the other way. We were then told to wait 3 months. This. is . not. making. sense. We continued to fight and prayed hard. We then decided to take advantage of some help that had been offered to us as this was beginning to become more and more yucky feeling. We did and sure enough the situation is just not going to be. To say we are/were heartbroken is an understatement BUT we have a peace. We DO NOT under any circumstance want to be a part of anything that is not kosher.

So we have turned the little girl over to the Lord and are waiting on an email or call for the child God has in store for our family. Are we disappointed? Yes. Are we frustrated? Yes. Do we KNOW we are doing the right thing? Yes.

And so we wait and wait some more. We should be getting good at this by now. We are ok. We know that there is a reason and we fully trust the Lord. When we can't see His plan we are trusting in His hand.

Thanks for all of your support. More updates soon. Cant wait for the one about the day we spent in a village with some Uganda friends.