I could have missed her...

and I would have missed

 a divine appointment with Mary. 

Today started out like most, with me really not wanting to get out of the bed.  It makes no sense how I stay up late to think for myself without interruption, like some force outside myself is defying going to bed (the one place I need to be more than anything) and then when I finally get in there, I don't want to get out.  What a stupid cycle that I want to crush in my life.  Aaanyway, I had to get up early to get showered and ready before my oldest gets up for school at 630am.  That is EARLY for this homeschooling "anti-morning" momma.  The shower worked, in spite of the up 4 times til almost 2am with 2 different kids with phantom requests and one bed wetter, I was rejuvenated and ready to tackle the day and actually run some much needed errands. 

2 kids fed, 1 on the bus, and 1 driven to preschool, we (me and the oldest of the 3 at home) looked all over the house for the stupid Redbox case that was needed to take a movie back.  My husband says I'm the biggest sucker and I am. I got the extra movie cause they lured me in with "get another movie for only 50cents".  I go for the deal EVERY.TIME. (gift with purchase anyone?? don't get me started:)  This was seriously killing my errand time before having to pick up daughter from preschool.  I was finally like, forget it.  Got 3 blocks away from the house and hubbie finally answered his cell to say, "yea, someone left it bedside by his alarm clock."  Ayiyi, I later get a complete confession out of one of my peeps to include the complete fabrication they gave me as to where they HAD put the case.  All made up, knowing where the case really was.  Mmm.mmmm. We were reminded about the consequences of lying.

Redbox retrieved from house, neighbors hear the whir of my diesel again and again as I make loops around the 'hood.  Sounds like a school bus taking off...a really cool one, ha!

So, the 3 of us make it in and out of library, got a stack of books on Egypt for big brother's school report. check.  Movies dropped at Redbox. check.  Now to Lowe's to return a wallpaper book my mom picked up for me, and to order an install.  Yea, don't just go ripping down the loose "Funhouse" striped wallpaper in your master bathroom, thinking that making a mess of it will be just the forced motivation to "get the project done." Especially if you don't know that God is about to blow the gates wide open on your adoption journey and you ain't gonna be doing any remodel stuff. tee hee. (Note to self about 1 year ago)

I get the book returned and learned that no they don't have wallpaper contractors nor can they suggest someone locally.  My attitude shifts deep inside, yuckiness. "Kind of hard to sell wallpaper that way," I find myself saying out loud.  Not nice, not her fault, mandi.  I know better...and as I push the cart heavy with 3 younguns going "Mom what are we doing now??" I let go of the frustration.  Unlike other times when it lingers and I let it cause more casualties of joy stealing.  I breathe, I smile...kind of hard not to when you have a Jeff Gordon cart full of giggling kids. The cart is too full and one of the wheels is making a "poot" sound as Freddie says.  It sounds like a circular saw and they giggle..."ewww."

Lowe's is empty on a week morning, so the woman who asked if I was finding everything on the way in, now asks if we are ready to check out.  I share that they didn't have the installer I needed, as I umph the 3 younguns back out of their race car.  A greeter is at the door as we approach the electric doors, I'm reaching for hands before the parking lot, Nuluu is enamored with the auto door..and I hear a voice say, "Bye, have a nice day."

And there is it, a recognition in my mind, in my soul in fact... I hear Africa.  Like a thunderclap that makes you stop and take notice.  In a split second, I'm thinking about the clock, the next stop at Walmart, gotta go...and then there it is.  The compulsion of something much bigger than me, prodding me to open my mouth and ask, "Where is your accent from?"

The corner of her mouth turns up ever so slowly. I see the usual hesitation (can almost see her thinking, "like she's gonna know") and then she says, "Cameroon."  Yes, I heard Africa.  My heart skips a beat... I CAN NOT EXPLAIN THIS....I can only say it is like when you first fall in love.  I am in love with Africa.  Her people, they have my heart.  How does this happen?  I do not know.  It is God. 

Then  we share our details, my children are from Uganda, just on the other side of Democratic Republic of Congo from Cameroon.  Both central African countries.  She sounds like Damali!!! I tell her this, (find myself blurting it out, my heart oozing with love for those that I don't even realize how much I miss them until moments like this) and then I explain who Damali is.  That she is the director of the baby home where my children were cared for and that she is my friend.  I just want to sit and listen to her talk all day.  I learn that she has lived here for 4 years with her husband and 15 yo daughter.  And she wants to have more kids, adopt even.  There is a kindred joy and spirit between us.  We share our Jesus.  Then before I know it she is hugging the kids, I've invited her to dinner Friday night and I say as I write down my digits, "man I could've missed this divine appointment to meet you."  She said, I just came on at 1030.  I look at the clock it's 10:40...and I tell her that we are an hour later than scheduled because of something we misplaced.  She smiles that knowing smile.  Meeting Mary made.my.day. 

As I walk out to the van with my littles, something stirs deep inside of me...the same question looms...Lord what is this love I have for Uganda?  There He goes again placing people in my path.  Brief encounters that stir an unexplainable longing.  What is this relationship you are calling us to?

Flashback to June 2011 (Remembering the Miracles-Part I)

In faith......we believed.

05/27/11 - Our Ugandan attorney filed our case in court, to await the assignment of a court date by the court registrar. (ie placing us on a particular judge's calendar) This day is our precious adoptive daughter Nuluu's birthday.  God was encouraging my belief against all odd's, for a court date before the UG Judicial System break in July....

05/31/11- Sometime over Memorial Weekend, our USCIS approval arrived in the mail. We received a verbal approval over the phone the week before and told our UG attorney immediately so she could file our case. 

06/13/11- Felt an unbearable prompting to fast regarding our court date assignment. Feeling downright unworthy and guilty to even lay a request for a timeline kind of prayer before the Lord...I began a fast and intense time of prayer...with a holy passion to believe Him for what truly seemed impossible and down right too much to ask for.

06/15/11- Didn't want to be legalistic... I didn't know how long I was to fast...but some part of me felt like I was to continue until we heard an answer (that was kind of scary, faith rattling... I mean it was commonly a month+ or months before parents got word)

06/16/11 - I really believed I would hear something this Thursday morning. With each passing day, the chances of it happening before July 15th were slipping away. Other families had aleady been assigned days in August/September. Who was I to think we would get one?
UG is 8 hours ahead of us..and so if you didn't have an email in the morning...it usually wasn't happening. I was crushed when on day 3 of my fast there was no word (but declaring all along during this week, I didn't want it on MY time, didn't want it NOW if it wasn't what God has for us. I can only describe it as a force outside myself, (something greater than me) in a way like no other in my life, that would not let me let it go. This force would not let me give up and just reside myself to later.

On this evening, I cried out to God...questioning this hope - this faith, that the Holy Spirit was clearly growing in me, clearly prompting and stoking in me... I was questioning myself and I kept coming back to Abraham. I felt in such turmoil...even digressing in my raw moment with God to ask if He loved me? Was all this in His will? I just loved Him so and wanted this all to be in His timing.

On this evening, I felt I'd said it all. Proclaimed all my faith in God to do the impossible and laid all my hearts thoughts, dreams and requests at Jesus' feet. It was finished and I ate a late dinner.

06/17/11- On this Friday morning, I wasn't up all night praying as the night before. I wasn't checking email, like an insane person. I was asleep, sound asleep, resting in peace. And my husband's voice rang out in the quiet, "Mandi get UP! get UP!" "We have a date!" (those of you who know me, you know I'm not a morning person)

I sat up like a crazed person... I remember shouting "WHAT?! WHAT?! as I realized he was checking email on his phone. My eyes struggled to adjust to the phone screen in the dark as I read through tears, our faces smushed together, the following words:


"I was at the Court yesterday and your matter has been fixed for hearing on the 1st day of July, at 2:30pm; Thank you for your prayers!! Kindly make your travel arrangements in time, and we hope you can be in Uganda at least three days prior to your court date so that we can meet before court."

This is really happening.  God made a way.  God heard my prayers.  He wanted me to believe in FAITH...and for once I did.  I wept over the cry of my heart the night before, and felt like a spoiled child...crushed under the weight of the truth, YES he loves me....oh, how He alone loves me.  I selfishly asked for a sign, and this time, unlike so many other times before, I got confirmation as a mountain moved right before my eyes.  We were going to Uganda to begin the real journey of bringing home our two children.  Little did I know, that in FIVE days...yes you read that right, FIVE DAYS, I would be on a plane with my husband, bound for Entebbe. 

Now picture a CRAZY woman, like a child pinging off the walls on Christmas morning, crying, laughing, permanent smile glued on my face, more crying, spaced out crazy excited Momma...and you see what I looked like for the next 4 days.  

To be continued.....

Memorial Weekend, just 2 weeks before...I made a blind hair appointment with someone out-of-town.  On a whim I got all my hair chopped off.  I said, "I just feel like I'm going to Africa soon, and I'm about to have 5 kids. "

This is what our tribe looked like just 7 days before we got assigned a court date.

My little homeschool tribe asked me to bandage them....the goofy, the wounded.

I love these little munchins.



Africa on my mind and in my CHAI...

YES, you read that right.

 LOOK, literally africa was in my perfectly hot cup of chai tea.

As I waited those precious 2 minutes for my microwave to prepare a cup of yumminess to awaken this nightowl of a mommy, who once again didn't get in the bed

 as she should have...

my thoughts drifted to my time in Africa and how I'd love to share another cup of African tea with Damali, the director of Sonrise Baby Home.  My middle son, was at that moment asking me what chai, tasted like, and inquiring if he could have a sip.  As I told him about African tea, I turned to take my first sip and looked down and there she was

AFRICA

in. my. cup.

The beautiful country where I left half of my heart, where I long to return to the people, the landscape, the dependence on God.

Mostly I long to hold 2 precious children,

wrap my arms around 4 arms, 4 legs,

hear the words of the most beautiful accent say,

" Weellcomb, Bach!" 

We are not just adopting two children, our family tree will now forever cross over the ocean to Ug*nda.  We will be family.  This is just the beginning...

My son said, "Mom that is so cool!  Look Joel, Africa!!"

Then he proceeded to eat his poptart INTO the shape of Africa.

"Look Momma, Look!  Africa!"

I love God Moments....

especially when the Lord chooses to give me one so off the beaten path and in a time of great heartache.  He knows my every thought and He loves me soooo much.  The creator of the universe, who placed the stars in the sky and formed the intricate miraculous systems of the human body....thinks about me, is concerned with my heart and orchestrates a moment just to love and encourage me and to tell me that yes, I'm on the path He has for us, just keep going one step at a time. 

My sweet husband received a nice suit from his parents for Christmas, and it wasn't the right size.  So for 2 months we have failed to orchestrate a return to the mall in Savannah, after many aborted attempts.  We don't go to the city much, and our big ole loaf of bread van doesn't get the fuel economy of a Prius, so we try to make multiply stops to justify a trip.  This weekend my family was in town for a great visit and Friday included a picnic in one of the historical squares of Savannah, a walk along the river walk, a purchase of dresses for the older girls at the children's home where our kids are in Ug*nda, and finally a pitstop by the mall for shoes for the kids and Jeremy's SUIT RETURN.  Seriously, we had a few days before the max 90 days to return was reached.  At the end of a long day, with no naps, we were on borrowed time with the kiddos.  Grandparents headed to the shoe department with the littles, I hit the makeup counter for the one thing I was getting with a rebate card, and Jeremy headed to Men's.  As I pushed  my youngest in the stroller, I debated whether to try and catch my husband and ride the elevator up...but I did.  I found him with his return complete, but no other suitable suits, ha! were there for him.  Well the only time he'd worn one recently was for his interview and we weren't hoping for any more of those for a few more years, so what does he really need at the moment?  We settled on shoes, since he's rockin some that he's had for 6+ years. 

It's about dinner time on a Friday night, few people around in Belk.  Jeremy finds two possible shoes and asks the salesman to check on his size. I'm turned around pushing Lucy and just barely note an accent when the gentleman speaks before dissappearing into the back.  I look up and He is obviously of African descent...my subconcious thought has drifted to a possible British hint in what I barely heard of his accent.  I'm immediately curious and my thoughts drift to Ug*nda.  I'm pushing Lucy around in circles and fixated on how badly I want to know where he is from.  This is silly I think.  Okay, I'm assuming he's not an African American, but won't it be strange if I just ask where he's from originally? what is the non-offensive way to ask this question? or do I ask where is your accent from?  I'm starting to feel really stupid and think, "There are 50+ countries in Africa.... just let it go, woman!" 

He returns from the back and doesn't have either shoe in hubbie's size.  I smile, circle around again to the counter, and my compulsion (the Holy Spirit) forces me to open my mouth. 

I stumble saying something like, " I heard your accent, where is it from?

He replies, Belgium and Africa.  He gives me a look like what a strange question.

I persist, "what part of Africa?" 

"East Africa" (Now, He's really looking at me, like what is this woman's deal?)

My smile is getting bigger by the second, although I have no idea where this is going.

Finally I say, "WHAT COUNTRY?"

He at last solves my burning mystery.....(are you ready?)




UG*NDA!!!!!

He sees my big old grin from ear to ear, and says, "Do you know where that is?"
I tell him that yes, that's why I was asking because we are adopting two children from Ug
*nda.
I know this will sound silly to some, crazy to others, but I literally felt my heart just filling with love.  As he speaks to me with great comfort now, I glance down at his name tag....
His name is Lazarus.  (dear friend of Jesus) (why am I even surprised)
Turns out Lazarus is from mid western Ug*nda and lived there until he was 17.  He then moved to Belgium and stayed there until coming to the US in 1994.  He wanted to know how adoptions were going in Ug*nda because he had closely followed the journey of a Belgium family trying to adopt years ago and it was treacherous.  He rejoiced with us and said He wants us to bring our children to visit him when they come home. 

I kidded with him that He really wasn't going to tell me Ug*nda....He started laughing, said most people don't know, so he just says Eastern Africa.  He said, sometimes he says Ug*nda and people ask what part of Canada is that in?  We laughed some more.  I told him in all fairness I wouldn't have known exactly where Uganda was in Africa just 2 years ago, but I do now because we just traveled there 9 months ago.  He was excited for us.  He told us he's only been back once, and that it's been many years.

Ahhhh, now I know why the compulsion was there. :) Sometimes when we least expect it, God is right there to show us in the most subtle ways just how much He loves us.  I was encouraged by a little reminder of the country I love and the daily growing LOVE and LONGING that will take me there again and again, for adoption of my two precious children and for the people of Uganda that God has placed on the heart of my family.

As I walked away, I had forgotten I was wearing my Simply Love t-shirt and my Ug*nda bead necklace.  :)