My little man

Seth has been in his big bed since last September. Remarkably, he goes to bed and never (ever) gets out. Even in the morning, he will wake up and talk until I go see him and we snuggle before we get up. What a sweet, easy child I have!

And then there was last night. I got home late to begin with and then had to immediately get on the phone with work. This set Seth on end as he wailed and Eveline whisked him off to a walk. When they got back and I was done, it was after 7:00. I convinced Seth to watch The Polar Express with me (his new obsession). We watched until bedtime (8:00) when I could tell he was exhausted. I put him to bed without incident and headed to the basement for more work in my office.

A couple of minutes later, I heard him coming. As I waited, Seth arrived to see me. I put him back. He came again. Back again. He came again, asking to sleep in Mama's bed. Fine. In my bed. He came again. Back again. Finally, I asked him if he wanted to watch his movie in Mama's bed, thinking how brilliant I was and how much work I had to do. That lasted five minutes. Back again. On what felt like his one millionth trip to the basement (and I realized no treadmill run would be necessary) I said, "OK. Let's watch your movie in the basement." I spread out a blanket on the floor while Seth positioned himself for viewing. I ran upstairs (again) to get the DVD player and ceremoniously set it up for Seth on the blanket. Done. I thought.

As I hurried to start working again, it nearing 8:45, I heard Seth moving again. Apparently, his movie theater five feet behind mom was not good enough and he was trying to move the blanket, DVD player and himself into my six by three foot office. Perfect. I positioned him best I could on the stamp sized space not taken up by me and my desk and, you guessed it. Five minutes later Seth was handing me the DVD player and crawling himself into my lap. Sigh. I knew it was over.

We watched the end of the movie together and I put him BACK in his bed again and closed the door, tight. He was not happy, but at long last, fell asleep. (Thank God)

Other than being a hilarious story I couldn't resist sharing, I also learned something about "Mama time." We aren't done with it yet. And maybe won't be for a while. I can't go to small group tonight and leave him again. And, Lord willing, when I head back to Uganda this year, he's going along. It's just the way it is for now. And the truth is, I love it!

Now off to start his shot regime.....

HIV Positive

Things I've learned about HIV this week:

• Having an HIV positive child in your house poses almost no risk to anyone else in the home. We're talking really no risk. (Check out the Positively Adopted badge on the right)
• With treatment, people who are HIV positive are living almost as long as those without the disease.
• HIV is NOT spread through saliva, tears, sweat, urine or feces.
• HIV is so controlled these days that most states do not require disclosure of the disease to schools, day cares, etc. WOW!
• One mom, with an HIV positive child from Eastern Europe, said that within a few weeks of being on the right cocktail, her daughter's HIV is undetectable in her blood. AMEN!

I'm going to meet with an infectious disease doctor as soon as I have more info on Betty. And I'm praying on. But I did have to buy a little sundress at Target yesterday.... just never thought I'd have a girl and need to see how that feels. :-)

I think bringing home Betty would be hard and rewarding. As she grows up, it could be heart-breaking. She may never marry (although there are ways....) but as I said to my mom, doesn't that make me her perfect mom? I mourn that same loss! God is funny that way. We shall see!

Reverse Culture Shock

It hasn't been all that easy to transition back home after this trip. Sure, I was (and am!) thrilled to see Seth and my parents. And sure, it was nice to have a hot shower with water pressure or to be able to talk to Rene on the phone when she called to get the scoop. I like all of those things. But more than any of that, I'm kind of disgusted with my life here. I found myself angry that no one looked at me or waved or smiled after I parked my car and walked to work this morning. I was sick at the thought that, for the price that I would pay to park downtown today, some Ugandans would live for a month. I looked at all of Seth's things (and mine) and I felt guilty. I am truly in shock to be home. So, I decided to make some changes. Now. Lord, help me to keep this feeling and not lose the value of life beyond the quest for money and things that has so swallowed up this country -- self included. Help me to keep my eyes on the only ONE that matters.

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I thought it would be fun for you to see the sights of Uganda from our car ride. Check it out on the video below. It's kind of fast, but you get the idea. These people, living in these conditions, are JOYFUL. Kind. Friendly. Loving. CONTENT. Makes you wonder, eh?

Pictures to Remember....

Trip Recap

The trip to Uganda was great. I'm so glad I took a leap of faith, with strangers, to fulfill one of my dreams. If you ever have the opportunity to travel with Linn or her family, do it!! Dwight, Emma and Graham are great and I'm so blessed to have met them. I can't say enough good things about our team and the time we spent together. Thanks for an amazing trip, everyone!!

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Up next, my favorite pictures from the trip!

Observations on Uganda

Uganda is green and lush and beautiful. Not what I expected.

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Ugandans are gorgeous. Perhaps the most beautiful people I've ever seen. Their features are perfect and skin is a deep, dark brown. As dark as it can be.

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Kampala is busy with more taxis (little buses) than one can imagine. Traffic is crazy and it can take forever to go just a few miles.

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Many Ugandans are poor and have less than we could fathom living with. And yet, they are joyful -- the friendliest people/country I've ever visited. Everyone waves and smiles and greets you. Several Americans living in Africa have visited other African countries and told us that Uganda is the most friendly of all the countries.

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In the midst of poverty, Lake Victoria is breathtaking.

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Many of the children who live on the streets have hearts of gold and want to do right and want to grow up to be one of the many "uncles" who mentor them.

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There is a war for the heart of Uganda. While majority Christian, Muslim missionaries are fighting hard to grab the heart of the country. Pray for Uganda.

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God is working in Uganda -- through countless people and organizations from around the world. It's easy to see how people fall in love with Uganda and go back. I will go back. WE will go.

Street Kids

We spent Friday afternoon helping out at the street kid program. This Christian program works with boys that live on the streets, in the slums. The men and women that volunteer in the program are "uncles"and "aunties". It's a great program, giving hope to the hopeless.

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The Friday program starts with learning some English in a one hour class. After the classroom work, they play. We taught them to do the limbo (some of them are really good!) and then organized a couple of soccer games. After playing, the boys came into a covered area where food was being prepared for them to eat. (They get three hot meals a week through the program). The boys also sleep under this pavilion area and the organization hires guards to keep the boys safe. While we were at the kids program, I met Mark. I will point him out in the pictures I'm posting later. He was so much fun. We played and talked and goofed off together. He translated from English to Lugandan when we introduced ourselves. Very impressive! Just before we left, he gave me a necklace which I will treasure. I'm going to write to him through Jess so I can hear what's going on with him -- the sweet boy who lives on the streets and fends for himself. God be with him. Use him for Your will.

Ugandan Adoptions

We had a few meetings this week to discuss adoptions in Uganda. As you may have read, adoptions have screeched to a halt in Uganda in the last year. There's a lot of information (and misinformation) about why that happened. As best I can, I'm going to try to describe what happened as we now understand it.

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Uganda has a law that in order to adopt a child, you must live in Uganda for three years as the child's guardian prior to a final order of adoption. In the past, the courts were entering guardianship orders for non-Ugandan parents who took those orders to their embassies and got visas. Once back in their country, they adopted the child. At some point, one of the ministries in the Ugandan government called the Canadian and U.S. embassies and told them that issuing visas was skirting Ugandan law (the three year requirement) and they should stop. In respect of Ugandan law, the U.S. and Canada stopped issuing visas, thus effectively stopping adoptions. The U.S. suggested to the Ugandan courts that if they included certain language in the guardianship order, adoptions could proceed. For example, including "guardianship with the intention to adopt" would make clear Uganda is aware that when the family left together, they would adopt and fore go the 3 year residency. That way, the U.S. could feel okay about proceeding with the visas. The Ugandan courts took offense to being told by the U.S. what to do and now we are at loggerheads.

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The adoption attorney we met with told us that there are several proposals to fix the holdup. In the meantime, one judge is issuing orders with the U.S.-requested language and visas are being issued. The other judges will not follow suit. But all of the judges will enter adoption orders for children with medical challenges or other special circumstances. The entire situation needs prayer. Prayer for the Ugandan government and prayer for the U.S. state department. There are thousands of children waiting for homes, many of them already matched with families. We need to get them home! Shortly I will be posting a list of names and addresses for letters that we were told might help. Please write. I will post a sample.

Betty -- Part Two

I spent a few hours with Betty on Thursday. She is a funny girl. She has a house mama nearly all to herself (wow!) so she is a little spoiled. (Imagine that at an orphanage....). She appears to be the right size for an 18 month old, that is, she doesn't look small to me. Maybe a little, but not abnormally. I met with the orphanage director when I got there. He was sweet and told me, "you know, she could die". Um, yes. I know that. He told me Betty's story and how she was very sick before meds and now, on anti-viral, she is thriving and meeting milestones. He then asked me to meet with her nurse who assured me she is doing great. Then off to play. Betty is happy and loves to hug her teddy bear. She babbles some but it is hard for me to tell if it is abnormal or just sounds different because Ugandan sounds different. (HIV in young kids can cause brain damage). After a couple of hours together, we had to go. Betty was NOT happy about that. She chased me down the stairs and wailed when we tried to walk away. I decided to carry her into the playground so other kids would distract her from my departure. It worked. For her......

The weird thing is that I have met dozens of adorable children on this trip. Beautiful and healthy. Normal. Betty is cute but she is damaged by the disease and it shows. She is far from the cutest baby I saw and even further from the healthiest. But she's the one that's in my heart. (Sigh).

I met with an adoption attorney on Saturday. Despite legal issues with adoption in Uganda (more on that in a separate post) the attorney told me that I would get an immediate order for adoption (not guardianship) for Betty and a fast Visa given her health. She could be home in a matter of weeks after my decision.

So I pray on. Trusting God will make this clear and soon. Because if Betty is my "Leah Grace" the sooner she gets home the better.

Betty

Yesterday, we visited three orphanages and attended a crusade in the village where we have been working. (My back was thankful for this decision.) I loved seeing the other orphanages. It gives me perspective on the one that I first saw. I'm not a fan of the first one -- the others "appear" nicer.

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We visited an orphanage in Kampala that we think might be run by the Catholic church (although some of the images around the place confused me). The sweet woman social worker showed us around and introduced us to the kids. All of them were so happy and the workers smiled and joked and laughed at us. (Yes, AT us. Ha)

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Dwight's oldest daughter is interested in adopting from Uganda, so Dwight and I started asking the woman in charge about two-year-olds that are available for adoption. In that process, a sweet little girl, Elizabeth ("Betty"), came over. She appeared to be nearing two or so and I asked about her. The woman said, "Oh, she's available, but she's positive." HIV positive? Yep. As the woman turned to walk away, knowing we would not be interested in Betty, something happened in my heart.

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After visiting with the children for a while, we went to another room where the woman could talk with us. She told us their adoption process and that we can use the attorney of our choice (this is key). I asked her about single women adopting and she said that would be fine, but same sex only. (Despite the fact that I have Seth....). Then I asked her if she would allow me to adopt Betty. The look on her face was something. It was as if she couldn't believe her ears. She jumped up and got her file and showed me the pictures of when she arrived. She was found by a busy, busy road at three days old. She has been in the orphanage for 18 months. She was diagnosed as HIV positive at 8 months old and has been on medicine since then.

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Sigh. Pray for me, ok? I'm not sure I can leave little Elizabeth here. No one wants the HIV positive babies. We all (self included) want the healthy, happy boys and girls I've been playing with all week. But God intends ALL children to have parents. Even sick little Betty. I'm going to beg Dwight to be allowed to go back to the orphanage tomorrow so I can spent more time with Betty and Paul (a little guy that Dwight's Abi just might love...) and pray and think and talk. It's Thursday, we leave Sunday. All is well. Much love.

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"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge HIM and HE will make your path's straight."