a month in Uganda for all of us, then one of us will stay behind if necessary

We'll all be in Uganda for a month.

Our hope - and this will only be possible if everything sails through quickly and without hiccups - is that we'll ALL return together on November 12.

We know families who have managed to do that, but they are the exception rather than the norm. If our newest three aren't cleared for travel yet, then one of us (probably me) and our three current kiddos will return on November 12 while the other parent stays until Patience, Philip, and Patricia can return.

We're praying we can all return at once, but we're preparing for either possibility. We're trusting God that the timing will be perfect, whatever the schedule will be.

Many of you have asked how you can serve us now and when we return (and let me just say that I am so touched by those requests!), and I'm working on a post for practical helps once we're home. For now, we're up for playdates for Robbie to keep him out of my hair occupied this week, assuming he is doing well enough with recovery from having his tonsils and adenoids out last week. Zoe has therapy here during the day every day and still naps a lot, so I don't think that would work for her. Also, I have heard that the orphanage could use cloth diapers, so I'll be accepting donations (used or new) for those. They mostly have toddlers rather than babies, but any size will be helpful. Finally, anyone want to pet sit a bearded dragon for a month? He eats greens, though if you're up for live prey, he's a fan of crickets, which you can buy at most pet stores. He lives in a 40 gallon tank with lighting and a timing on the plug so his lights cycle on and off in his natural cycle.

He's friendly and likes to be held, but that is NOT necessary!

Also, are you willing to serve any Sundays at 9:20 or 11 in special needs ministry at Providence? Or at BLAST on Sunday evenings? We'll need subs just in case someone is out at 9:20, we have gaps to fill at 11 on all the Sundays we'll be gone (October 13, 20, 27, and November 3, 10 and 17), and one or two gaps each of the Sunday evenings we're gone (October 13, 20, 27, and November 10 and 17 - no BLAST on November 3).

But our biggest request? Prayer, prayer, and more prayer. Reminders of Bible verses and passages to keep us centered on the One orchestrating all of this. Encouragement.

And more prayer.

eight days

We got the email.

We're expected in court in Uganda on the afternoon of October 15.

I found out while checking my email at 2:30 in the morning after Robbie woke up for some more pain medicine. (This tonsil and adenoid removal deal is no joke, but he's much better now. We've stepped down to just over the counter pain meds, but we're prepared to step it back up if he hits a rough patch this weekend.) And, of course, the adrenaline surge after reading that email means I didn't go back to bed.

And we're out of coffee. I see a trip to the store in my near future.

Flights? Booked.

Bags? Mostly packed, with the exception of Lee's clothes. (He's the only one who isn't a clothes hoarder, so I can't pack him too far in advance. Me and the kids, though? We can survive just fine without the seven-ish outfits we'll each have.)

Heart? A lot excited, with a side of manic panic.

Y'all.

We're getting on a plane to go to Uganda in EIGHT DAYS.

Thank you, Jesus.

Now that "coming soon" sign seems a lot more real!

blessed and bone tired

Yesterday Robbie had his tonsils and adenoids out. Recovery so far in a word: HARD.

Zoe hasn't gotten the memo that Mommy needs to focus more on Robs so it would be helpful if she's more easygoing than usual this week. (Don't worry; she may dress like a doctor when Jocelyn plays pretend with her, but we had a real doctor do Robbie's surgery.)

Jocelyn came home from school earlier this week and handed me this. She said, ""Mommy, my friend Maddy gave me this money. We want you to have it to help bring Patience, Philip, and Patricia home." Which made my eyes teary, my heart proud, and my mind wonder if we've talked more about fundraising around the kids than I intended.

And the hand holding that change? It's fisted today due to rheumatoid arthritis. In the midst of everything, I got behind on my meds, and stress + lack of sleep + missed meds = a flare up of the joints. On a positive note, I'm impressed by what I'm able to do with one hand and one fist.

In other words, it's been a challenging week, and it's not even half over. I almost posted a status message about what a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day I'm having... when I saw this picture, the first profile picture I ever posted on Facebook:

It was next to this one:

I'm not going to lie: there have been more terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days that I'd like to recall between those two family portraits. But? I never could have guessed as a mom of one in that first picture from late 2007 that the artistic portrait above would be drawn by that baby girl as a representation of our family, circa 2013. 

Sure, some days are harder than others. Today? It's one of the hard ones. On top of everything else, we were told we'd be issued our court date in Uganda yesterday, and... well, no date yet.

But? I wouldn't trade this life for anyone else's. We are blessed.

(And bone tired.)

Amazon, is it too much to ask for a doll of color to be included in today's Gold Box promo of Barbies?

UPDATE: Amazon has heard us, and they have responded by adding FOUR black Barbies to the promotion. A lovely Amazon PR rep just called me to share the news, let me know they have passed our feedback through the right channels to make sure this sort of thing doesn't happen again, and ask me to tell y'all to stop emailing them. (Okay, she didn't say that last part, but I inferred it.) THANKS, Y'ALL!

~+~

Amazon, you know I love you. A quick glance at my order history or banking account makes that clear, and I'm sure our mail carrier has lost count of the number of smiling boxes he's delivered here this month alone.

Hi, I'm Shannon, and I'm addicted to Amazon. 

I've been on the lookout for black Barbie dolls for our newest daughters, Patience and Patricia, who are the oldest and youngest members of the sibling group of three we're adopting from Uganda. But, Amazon, you know that already; my wish lists on your site include several black dolls. When we travel (hopefully next month), I want to bring Barbies that look like them, especially since my current daughters already have lots of white Barbies and one Asian one.

Imagine my excitement when I saw this today.

Now imagine my disappointment when I realized "40% off select Barbie toys" meant "40% off select white Barbie toys."

Let's ignore the number of tabs I have open on this screenshot, shall we? What can I say? I'm a multi-tasker with a touch of ADD.

Sorry, Ammy, one brunette doll with a brown horse doesn't count as diverse.

I didn't expect all of the dolls to be black, but I expected at least one to be. After all, more than 1 in 20 Barbies are non-white* (*per my observations, not any documented research) so I would expect a sale including 20 Barbie items to include at least one of color. I would understand Amazon's stance if Barbie only made white dolls, because you can't influence a vendor to be more inclusive. But Barbie does, so it's Amazon that has made the choice to only include white dolls.

While one of my children is Asian, I didn't expect an Asian doll to be included, because Barbie only makes one or two of those, so in a sample of 20 items, it wouldn't be statistically likely for an Asian doll to be included. But, using that same reasoning, it would be expected - based on the Barbie product line - for a black Barbie to be included by Amazon in this promotion.

I truly don't think this was intentional. If I'm honest, I have to admit that I wouldn't have noticed the issue here two years ago when I was a white mama to two white children. Now, though, as the mother of soon-to-be six - one via special needs adoption from Taiwan last year and three siblings through waiting child adoption from Uganda this year - I am much more aware of how most commercial merchants target people of my skin color over those with more pigment. (I even blogged about white privilege and black dolls a couple months ago.)

As I told Asic and John, the two customer service reps I chatted with today, I am sure no one at Amazon meant any ill will or maliciously discriminated in the choice to only include white Barbies in today's promotion. I'm assuming it was an accident. Nonetheless, this is an issue for those of us who would love to see at least one doll of color represented.

If the Gold Box special was just one doll, I would expect the typical white, blond, blue-eyed Barbie - who, incidentally, looks a lot like my oldest daughter - to be the one chosen for the promotion. But for no dolls of color to be represented in a selection of 20 Barbie items? That didn't sit well with me, so I contacted Amazon's customer service.

 Asic spent some time checking into things, before replying with this:

Enter John.

I tried giving them an out by suggesting that they could lower the price of select black Barbies without officially including them in the promotion, but no dice. I'm encouraged that John says it won't happen again. But, as nice as he was via chat, I don't know John. I don't know if he can really ensure that this won't happen again.

But I do know the power of social media. 

So, friends, if this bothers you as it bothers me, share this post. Contact Amazon, through customer service HERE (choose "something else" and follow the prompts to contact them via your preference of phone, email, or chat) or by directly emailing their PR team at amazon-pr@amazon.com.

After all, their mission is "To be Earth's most customer-centric company where people can find and discover anything they want to buy online," and today's Gold Box deal doesn't feel very customer-centric to me.

And, finally, Amazon? We can still be friends, right? If you want to reach out to me to discuss this further, you have my email address. and phone number. and home address. and credit card number. and coffee flavor preferences... so don't be a stranger, mkay?

oh, my heart