celebrating and weeping with friends in the adoption community

Today, dear friends we stayed with at the guest house in Uganda are arriving in Oregon with their three Ugandan darlings, meeting friends and family - including their three biological children - at the airport.

With them, we celebrate.

Today, other dear friends we stayed with at the guest house in Uganda are separated from their Ugandan boys, as Matt flies home to Des (who came before him by a week or so) and their other children while the US Embassy continues to investigate their case.

With them, we weep.

Being part of the adoption community is not for the faint of heart. It is beauty and brokenness. It is heartbreaks and joys.

I know cases in which adoption shouldn't happen. In which the Embassy rightly says no to visas. In which first families are coerced and children live in orphanages when they should and could be living with the families they were originally born into.

The two boys being adopted by Matt and Des - boys for whom they are already legal guardians by order of the Ugandan courts - need adoption. They don't have other options. Their case is expected to be decided ultimately in their favor - that of the boys to be with their loving, waiting parents - but for now, they wait.

The parents and some of their children in Virginia.

Two of their boys in Uganda.

Please, pray with me for them.

As you pray, it might help to see faces if you're a visual person like me. While I can't share pictures of their precious, precious sons, who are around Patience's and Jocelyn's age, I can share the faces of Uncle Matt and Aunt Desiree, our dear friends who wait with their American children until their Ugandan children can join them too.

the Dinglefest cast o' characters

This is me (Shannon) and the mister. He's only 10 months older than me, but evidently that's enough of a difference for me to embrace social media and him to eschew it.

In other words, you'll see his face, but I'm the blogger of the bunch.

Lee's our fearless leader. 

He loves Jesus, us, gadgets, tools, the outdoors, meat, structures, and surround sound.

I'm 

the voice around here, sharing how God is leading our family and our hearts. My love languages? Research, special needs ministry, books, vulnerability, effective helps for vulnerable families (including family preservation supports, informal care, and - only when truly necessary - adoption), sparkly things, coffee, Netflix binges, and comments (hint, hint).

As for the rest of our party of eight, meet them below (albeit in dated pictures, because I don't update this page often):

Jocelyn

Patience

Philip

Robbie

Zoe

Patricia

first day of school 2013, round 2 {our second 1st grader!}

when two families of five become one family of eight

There were five of us: Lee, Shannon, and our three children: Jocelyn (6), Robbie (4), and Zoe (1.5).

Their family also consisted of parents and three children: Patience (6), Philip (4), and Patricia (almost 2). And then, through hard realities that I won't share here because the story is not mine to tell, these three needed a new family.

We weren't planning to adopt again so soon, considering that Zoe had just joined our family eight months before we found out about the next three children who would become ours. But these three were about to be separated, because one had tested positive for HIV and the adoption facilitator in their country thought the two who were healthy would be adopted more quickly if they were listed for adoption without their ill sibling.

Even before we voiced our prayers for these children, God's

yes

 for these children and for this adoption resounded in our hearts.

(Lest you think we were all heart and no mind, though, we did have a private investigation done to make sure the story we were being told was verified and to confirm that these children didn't have any possible in-country options for adoption or other loving family care.)

As we had before we adopted Zoe, we showed the picture above to Jocelyn and Robbie and Zoe. We told them the story of the three faces staring back at us, and we asked what they thought we should do.

Jocelyn said, "Adopt them!"

Robbie said, "That Philip is my brother, Mommy."

Zoe wasn't speaking much yet, but we know she thrives around other children, so we took her affirmation from that.

So

we announced our plans

to the interwebs, thanks to our talented photographer

(local friends, 

check her out!

)

.

Then, after paperwork and waiting and whatnot, we went - all five of us - to Uganda.

Then, six weeks later, we returned - all eight of us - from Uganda.

Want to know why we adopt?

Click here

. If you want to read about the biggest lesson God taught me in this adoption, 

this post

 tells about the hard blessings. If you'd like to learn more about HIV+ adoption, click 

here

and

here

and

here

 and

here

to read past posts about that. Wanna see how we all get around?

Meet Pluto

. Wondering why we said yes to siblings? 

Click here

. If you'd like to read about the scariest parts of our trip, read about our experiences with

malaria

and

typhoid

. (Yeah, fun times!) Then there was

homesickness

too. Finally, 

here's

where we introduced our three Ugandans in pictures for the first time on the blog.

Now?

We are blessed beyond measure!

that time we went to the school district offices for ESL testing

and I filled out a bunch of paperwork, while Patience figured out the art of selfies and stealth iPhone pics.

She starts 1st grade on Monday. We've already met her teacher, and she's fantastic. Her class is right next door to Jocelyn's class, and they'll see each other at lunch and will be able to play together at recess. Plus we've already made plans to meet a couple of Patience's classmates in front of the school on her first day and walk to class with them so she doesn't have to enter alone. 

Exciting times!