Home

We made it home on March 9th.  It's extremely exhausting traveling all the way from Uganda to Alaska.  It takes three flights of 8 hours, 10.5 hours, and 3.5 hours- plus lay overs.  Justine was excited, but of course she didn't fully comprehend what it entailed to make it home.  Luckily, the first and last flight we all slept.  It's the LONG, middle flight that gets the best of us.  Let's just say she doesn't quite have a personal bubble.  She sat with a man on her left and me on her right.  Dustin sat next to me.  I thought about putting her between us, but then thought she would give the stranger more room and also I wouldn't have to sit next to some guy for 10.5 hours. Poor guy...  She would lay her head on my lap and put her feet on her seat, but I was constantly reaching over to pull her feet away from his leg.  When she was awake, she watched "Frozen" for about 30 minutes on the screen that was on the headrest in front of her.  Then she decided she would play with the touch screen... which at first was fine.  BUT, I had to make sure she didn't constantly call the flight attendants and turn the light above her off and on (since those are touch screen selections).  Then, she randomly put on a mature movie that I had to turn off.  So eventually I went into the "game selections" for her and she didn't know how to exit out of them.  I refused to exit out of them for her...  not a happy camper.  And then there's the seat belt issue.  Wearing a seat belt is not really required in Uganda, so she never wore one.  When I buckled her up the first time she immediately tried yanking it apart.  I loosened it enough so she could lay down, but it was a battle much of the flight.  Let's just say, we survived.  Now that long flight is history!  She is adjusting very well to Alaska and her new family.  She about had a heart attack when she met her furry family members, but now she loves them.  I have color coated dishes for each of us and she quickly learned that hers are dark purple.  She has slept through each night in her room without a problem.  Right now she is under the coffee table with her blanket and she just said, "Mommy, good night!"  Her English is picking up very quickly.  Yesterday she said, "Chace, c'mon!"  The kids are on spring break until Monday, so that is a huge blessing.  What perfect timing.  I will slowly introduce her to school when they go back and within the first few weeks, she will be in Chace's class.  It's a Waldorf school, so there is absolutely no curriculum for kindergartners.  It'll be great for her since she thrives around other children.  More updates to come on the school transition.  So for now...   I'm sure we are in for some rough times but, so far, so good.

Yay!

So Wednesday we had our filing appointment at the embassy.  We took in a large stack of paperwork for them to go through.  It contained things like the court order, investigation, birth certificate, immigration paperwork... all sorts of not exciting stuff.  Everything looked good so we left to eat lunch and returned two and a half hours later for the interview.  We had a moment of stress when we had finished our end of the interview and her relatives hadn't shown up for their turn.  Luckily, the man interviewing us was very friendly and let us go make some phone calls.  Come to find out, they were almost there and Justine's caretaker had been in the hospital so it was a challenge for Mark to find her.  Poor lady- she is so weak and frail.  Mark told her "We need you ONE more time.  This is it and you will be done." Their interviews must have went well because when they were done, we were called back in so the guy could tell us to return Friday for the visa.  He also said not to make travel plans yet just in case, but it's too late for that!

Fast forward to today...

We have the visa!  We will be home in just THREE short-ish days.  Jumping for joy today and praying our friends will be able to leave with their three little girls VERY soon.  It's looking like next weekend for them.

Today we also went to the craft market to buy some goodies to bring home.  We found Justine an original, black and white painting of two lions.  It is too big to fit in our suitcase so they had to remove the canvas from its wooden frame so it could be rolled up.  I'm very excited to display it in her bedroom which is mostly black, white, and purple.  We also grabbed a couple small drums, more paper beaded necklaces and an African print dress for Justine.  The moment the women in the shop knew we were going to buy her a dress, she was swarmed with women and dresses of all patterns, styles, and colors.  It was very overwhelming!  She just kept saying YES!  No... no... Yes!  Yes!  No..... on and on.  Finally, when I was pleased with her choice of a pretty blue print dress, she changed her mind and chose a not so pretty black and greenish- mustardy looking one.  I guess if she will wear it and like it, that is what matters.  She will have to wear it with a sweater at home anyway!

Passing Time

Yesterday was Friday.  We had nothing important to do (unfortunately-ha).  So we made the best of our day and went to the zoo.  Justine and her little friends had a lot of fun.  The whole time there was a guide with us that could speak to them in their native language.  He even sung with them sometimes and held their hands while we walked.  Every once in awhile he would ask them what animals they had seen and then they would go through and list them all.  Some of the animals names were in English- some in Luganda.  In some places there were little monkeys roaming around waiting for us to feed them.  You know Ross' monkey on the show "Friends"?... they were those kind of monkeys- I think.  The girls would scream if the monkeys came in close too quickly.  It was slightly funny at first, but then it got old quickly.  After we left, we ate at our favorite place "Cafe Javas".  I LOVE their tropical smoothies.  Still don't know what fruit "pawpaw" is, but it's good.  When we Googled it, it looked sort of like a papaya.  Eventually we got back to the room and as if we hadn't done enough for the day, we all went swimming.  For me it's not really swimming.  It's more like walking around aimlessly in the pool and telling Dustin not to let Justine go too far out of his reach.  I am not much of a swimmer... he would have to be the rescuer if needed.  Finally we came back to the room and had pizza delivered.  We ate with the other family in their apartment.  The girls chowed down spaghetti, bread, and yogurt (they call it ice-cream).  When we got back in our room for the night, Justine colored and we looked at some pictures in a book and practiced some English words.  She seemed pretty wore out because she went to bed without any complaints.  I just sat and watched music videos on tv.  The same videos repeat over and over again.  I know when I hear these songs in the US I will be taken back to my time here.  Soon- a distant memory.

Fortunately, Unfortunately

I guess it's time to update this thing.  Partially because I have nothing else to do at the moment.  The computer is in use so it's a nice challenge typing this up on my phone.  So we have Justine's passport and she got her tb test on Friday.   We go back in tomorrow morning for them to read it.  Unfortunately they said they won't be able to do her physical until the following Friday.   Fortunately, we have heard of them telling family's this before but they will often let them get the test read and the physical done the same day.
This is our prayer and may it be yours too! Not just for us, but for the other family that is walking through this with us.  So for now we wait, again.  Heard that one before, right?   We are a little bit bored.  The days can be long and redundant at times.  I was wishing I had brought a board game.  Scrabble cost $50 here.  Still debating if it'd be worth it or not.  Just yesterday I was Googling some ideas of games to play when you are travelling.   I came across one that was called "Fortunately,  Unfortunately".  It said, "this is a game to play in bad luck circumstances. It gets you thinking how much better or worse things could be." I had to laugh when I read that.  So the way you play is someone starts off by saying a circumstance.   I inserted our circumstance here... "There once was a family adopting a six year old girl from Uganda." Then the next person would say something like "Unfortunately, it's taking much longer than they had originally anticipated."  Then the next person would say "Fortunately, they are able to create a good bonding foundation without being stuck in the middle of crazy life at home."  And then of course it would follow with another "unfortunately".  However, when the game is played you make something completely random up and see how creative and ridiculous the story gets.  But for me, it helped me see our "fortunately".  I've thought about this... I try to continue thinking of all our "unfortunatelys"... but the funny thing is... other than I miss my family life at home... I don't have many "unfortunatelys".  In this wait I need to remember there is a bigger and better plan than I can even imagine.  I know as this wait gets tough, fortunately we are HERE.

We made it! - Round 2

After 30 hours of travel, we arrived in Uganda... again.  Justine ran to us at the airport and gave Dustin a giant squeeze hug.  She made me ask for mine... I don't know what that's all about!  It took about an hour to get to our room.  Justine fell asleep with my arm around her in the backseat of the car.  I had to keep holding her head up, she was so tired.  We were immediately impressed with our room.  It's actually more than a room, it's a two bedroom apartment.  There was a fresh bunch of fruit on the counter, eggs in the fridge, bread in the cupboard.  Even a tied up live chicken laying quietly under the counter- behind a giant burlap sack of plantains.  Yeah, you read that right.  Mark thought it was funny.  Dustin nudged it with his foot and it made whatever noise living chickens make.  Freaked Justine out.  She bolted to the other side of the kitchen.  Mark went ahead and had somebody take it away for is.  No chicken slaughtering happening here, folks.  Finally Mark left us to ourselves.  I took Justine to her room and unpacked her clothes.   When I opened the closet I noticed there were a few articles of clothing hanging up.  Weird?  I told Dustin and we both agreed that hopefully nobody was staying here.  I thought maybe someone left them behind on accident.  So after settling in and enjoying some bananas and a chicken free room, the phone rang.  Dustin answered.  We have been given the wrong room.  Everything is coming together now.  As we hustled to shove all our unpacked things into our bags before somebody caught us living in their space, I started to understand why there was a chicken there (still weird but I get it) and the fruit and groceries... ohhhhh no. We ate their food! And used their toilet...and threw garbage in their trash and got juicy grapefruit chunks on their floor.  Actually Justine did that part, but that's beside the point.  I could tell Justine was really confused as to why we were panic packing.  Poor little thing.  We couldn't explain it to her.  After waiting about 15 minutes for someone to come exchange keys with us, we finally we able to settle into our new room.  Justine played with her new-to-her baby doll for awhile and went right to sleep when I tucked her in.  I can't say I wish the room mix up never happened though.   Not everyone has a story like that to tell!  Although, we are wondering about the person who was staying in the room we invaded.  Dustin says, "Poor guy.  He probably thinks the chicken got loose, ate the bananas, and ran out the door."

Preparing to go back to Uganda

We are heading back soon.  I'm trying to pack slowly so the last day home isn't a big rush.  We left Justine with a few outfits and a toothbrush, but I have no idea what kind of condition those things will be in when we get back.  I bought her a new toothbrush just in case and a few more outfits to take.  Things are not cheap in Uganda, so it's best to bring what we can.  I am also making sure to bring her some socks this time.  When we there last, she kept wearing mine.... sometimes with her flip flops.  On the bright side, she'd hand wash them every time she finished wearing them.

We were told she is excited to see us and that she has not once asked to return to the village.  That makes me happy.  It shows she can adjust well in new situations (since she has been staying at the school since we've been gone).  It's been over nine months since we first saw her picture.  I can hardly believe we are nearing the end.  We are so excited.

Sweet Justine

The first photo we ever saw of Justine.  April 2014

A photo of Justine that we took.  She is standing in the same spot as the first photo.  January 2015

Guardianship Granted

We finally heard today that our petition for JUSTINE'S guardianship has been granted!  We didn't doubt we wouldn't be approved, but still...  we actually know now!  I'm thinking we may have a romantic Valentine's Day airplane ride coming up.

Another Waiting Game

We heard word a few days ago that our judge didn't come to work on Friday and that Monday is a holiday in Uganda, so now we won't know the ruling until tomorrow or the next day.  It's very different there when it comes to people going to work.  They just go when they please, even if they have an important job.  In fact, we are lucky the judge was actually there the day of court.  With that being said, we should hear any day what her ruling is.  I texted Mark today and asked how J is doing.  He says she asks when we are coming back and he just tells her "soon".  Poor little girl.  She doesn't know what soon means and we really don't either.  So for now we just wait... again.

Temporary Goodbye

Our first trip to Uganda is about to end.  Mark and J dropped us off and now we are sitting at the Entebbe airport.  It was a teary goodbye.   Mark kept telling J not to worry..."they are coming back for you."  He assured her several times that she would also not be returning to her village.   Still... tears.  She was upset.   She kept a distance from us.  Our hearts were broken right along with her.  Luckily grandpa could hold it together.  He hugged her before either of us did or even wanted to.  After we all hugged her, they walked away. I could see her wiping her little tears on her sleeves in the distance.  Now all we can do is wait.  We are crossing our fingers for her passport to be processed while we are back in Alaska.  We think we will be returning in about three weeks.  Sweet lil J will attend school in Uganda for her first time while she waits for us.  Can't wait to bring her home...

Wash

Miss Independent

J is very independent.  I'm sure she did most things herself when she lived in her village. At this very moment, she is scrubbing down her clothes with a bar of soap in the bathroom sink.  When she finished some of her clothing, she looked for more to wash.  I love a lot of things about her culture.  Every time we eat at a restaurant, when J is done eating, she takes her plate to the nearest waiter or waitress and kneels down while handing it to them. She is saying thank you.  She is very meticulous and neat, yet she still needs to work on her manners!  Oh and this girl can shower.  No help needed.  She scrubs herself down from head to toe.  Soap in her eyes?  No problem!!!!  Getting hurt is usually funny to her!  I can see it now, she is going to be confused about why her younger brother is a big whiney pants.  She seems to be very happy and resilient.  I see future struggles but I feel she will transition well at home.  Can't wait!!

J

court

So today was the big day.  We awoke at 5:30am to meet the orphanage director.  Before he came, we ate breakfast with J.  It is a buffet style breakfast but they will make you an omelette the way you like. She pointed at the chopped vegetables and in her language she said she did not want them in her omelette. She does not like vegetables at all.  So we ate and then when Mark, the orphanage director showed up, we headed out. We met up with J's relatives at a parking lot and together we walked to another cafe so they could eat.  Mark had to translate for us because they only speak Luganda.  Finally we walked to the court house.  Once there, we sat in a waiting room with a few other Ugandan people waiting to see the judge.  After about an hour, it was our turn. We walked into what looked more like an office than a court room. The judge was a woman and next to her was a man translator.  The judge wanted us to sit in front of her desk so she could "look in our eyes and see if we are lying." I think she was teasing us but... hard to say.  After she questioned each relative, the investigator, and Mark, it was our turn. Fortunately we were able to remain seated and could answer questions together. She asked about our finances, discipline and how we will discipline an African child.  She asked about our marriage and why we are a stable couple.  We noted how when we disagree we can talk and problem solve. She then tried to trick us and say "So you never fight?" Ha!  Then she asked us if we know the tribe and clan of our little one.  Uh oh.  When I couldn't name them she told the attorney that this is a question she will be always asking families and they should know the answer.  Finally,  we were through.  Other than the one issue about her heritage, she commented on how well the investigation was done.  That is good news as it helps relieve her fears off child trafficking which is becoming an issue in many countries.   Even Uganda.  Before we left, the judge said she will have her ruling no later than Friday- a week or sooner. Later we met the relatives back at the hotel for photos. Its very important that we have those so J can cherish them.  We have a good feeling about court.  Hopefully everything else will continue to go smoothly.
 

meetcha day

We arrived in Uganda very late last night. It took awhile to leave the airport because some of our luggage went missing... and still is missing.  The driver for our first hotel picked us up and drove us down a long, dark dirt road.  My husband and father in law were wondering what I got us into. Luckily we were safe.  We slept there for about six hours and then awoke to repack and prepare to meet our little girl.  We ate breakfast downstairs and as we began to checkout I saw a man walk into the hotel lobby with a shy little girl in a black and white dress.  It was her.  She knelt at my feet.  That is the way children greet guests I suppose.  I showed her how to shake hands.  She was very quiet and absolutely adorable.  We all got into the van together.   The orphanage director has great English and he is so nice. He explained to us how important it is to bond with our child regardless that we will be leaving her and returning to America while we wait on paperwork.  Step number one of the bonding began today.  She is with us- alone.  He is running errands and won't be getting her for a few hours.  She has already come out of her shell.  We can't understand what she is saying... but she's not afraid to talk or even sing in front of us.  She is a very curious girl.  She was very excited when I got the pink fingernail polish out.  I painted her little toes. A pedicure is very much needed for her. Her toes have seen some rough days.  We are winding down right now.  In fact daddy and her are napping. More updates to come.