Officially Started

Well, we met with Hannah and Debbie from Heritage yesterday, turned in our application and fee, and officially got the process started. Got another BIG packet of paperwork to start on, and a list of things we needed to get together or working on. Now I need to schedule doctor visits for the kids, John, and the animals. Oh, and get the house cleaned up.

Several people have asked about a time-line of when we expect to have the boys home. IF we had all the money today, we could possibly have them home in about four months. Since we don't have the money, realistically, we are hoping by Christmas. The Ugandan government shuts down quite a bit around November/December, so we need to move quickly to get everything complete.

As far as fundraisers, we are looking at selling wristbands, having a yard sale, and the church is doing a dinner/silent auction for us the first of July. I would honestly LOVE to have the majority of the money raised before July, and just use that money for travel. I know that in the end, God is in control of this whole process.

After we were done at Heritage yesterday, we took the kids to Incredible Pizza. They all had a blast. I can't wait until we have the opportunity to take Emmanuel as well. I know it may be a while until he is ready for all of the excitement, though.

We have been down the adoption road before, and know the process can be daunting, but the international aspect is even a little overwhelming for John and I. Please keep us and the Myers' in your prayers. It is greatly appreciated.

Moving Along... With Friends

Things are beginning to move on the adoption front. We have decided to have Heritage Family Services do our home study, just to make sure all the paperwork is done correctly. We do not want any "surprises" that could possibly be avoided.

I have contacted another family that brought their daughter home from Mercy/Uganda in August, and am waiting to have some questions answered by them. Also, some friends of ours are joining us in this journey and bringing home a another little boy from the same children's home. I can't wait to go on this journey with them. It will be fun to share the adventure, and also for Emmanuel to have a familiar face here in Oklahoma.

Our church family is rallying behind us, helping us make this possible. Tonight, the Women's Fellowship was won over by our two little cuties, and they are making plans to help us raise some of the needed funds to bring Emmanuel and Ephraim home. Words cannot express what it means to us for our church family to be supportive.

In the next couple of days, I will be getting a donation button set up so you can help as well. Keep an eye here to follow our progress and keep up with events that are being planned to make these dreams a reality.

Emmanuel

Ephraim

Thank you for keeping all of us in your prayers!

Emmanuel Tumwebaze

Help us bring Emmanuel home!

As some of you may know, we have talked about adopting another child for some time now. We have received the paperwork to start the process twice, and have not followed through with it. We have felt that we were being called to international adoption, but perceived the cost as prohibitive. It appears God is now trying to stretch us. Michael has just spent about ten weeks in Uganda, and has found a precious little orphan who is in need of a home. His name is Emmanuel.

The following information was given to us about Emmanuel from the director of Mercy Childcare Ministries:

Emma has been with us since 2007. He was brought to us by the local authorities who found him abandoned in Nansana. The police tried to find out about his details but nothing was discovered. By then Emma was not social, he would not easily trust anyone, it seemed that he was earlier abused before he was abandoned. He used to wake up at night and cry and walk around the house. After like a year the lord changed him and he is now social, he knows that people around him love him and recently he started school.

We have the opportunity to bring Emmanuel home to join our family, but are totally dependant on God's miraculous provision to do so. We estimate the total cost of this adoption to be about $15,000. This is actually about 2/3 of what most international adoptions cost, but still much more than we can afford on our own. We feel like God is calling us to provide this precious child a home, and we will do everything we can, but we are totally dependent on outside financial support to make it happen. Any thing you can do to help would be greatly appreciated. May God bless you for your prayer and support!

Emmanuel (God with us) Tumwebaze (let us thank God)

Craziness!!

This is just a quick update on what's going on with our family. Tomorrow, Friday, May 29, Hannah's picture will be on "facebook Friday" on Six in the Morning (around 7:40). I posted a note on their fan page, along with a picture of Hannah, and I got a message saying they wanted to use my post and her picture. This weekend our family, featuring Hannah, will be on the Children's Miracle Network Telethon on OKC channel KOCO during the 1:00 -2:00 hour. She will be doing a "welcome", then we will be interviewed during the hour telling Hannah's story and how Children's hospital played a part. Hannah is also going to be interviewed on Channel 2's mid-day program on June 15. That is Tulsa KJRH. That will be the day after the Endeavor Games, and hopefully we will have some video of her participating to show in the air.

Later that week, we are hoping to be able to go down to the Dallas area and spend a couple days with Cody McCasland. Cody is one of Hannah's friends we met last year at CAF. Cody was recently featured on Dateline NBC. The links to that interview can be found here: www.teamcody.com Go to the page that says "Cody Sightings", and all the links are there.

Please keep us in your prayers over the next couple of weeks. It's going to be pure chaos. This weekend OKC, (we were just there yesterday), next weekend to Louisiana, then the next week is the Endeavor Games. Oh, and don't forget birthdays for my three girls - Dawn the 30th, Hannah the 2nd, and Alexis the 7th.

Please pray for our traveling safety - and sanity.

Mother's Day

I woke up to a very nice surprise yesterday. Michael was home! He had told me he wouldn't be able to make it because he had to work. Well, I was awakened by Hannah poking me in the hiney, and saying "Bubba's home." I immediately went in to check, and sure enough, Michael was home. I already knew Dawn and JJ would be at church, so that just capped it off.

We had a fantastic church service, then we went to Chili's for lunch. After we all sufficiently stuffed ourselves, we came home for picture time. Got a couple good pictures of all of the kids together, and a decent one of all eight of us.

After pictures, the older kids watched the three younger ones, and John and I had a date. First off to the AT&T store to pick up my gift - an iPhone. I didn't realize that if it wasn't time for an upgrade, the phone is $400. Needless to say, I didn't get the phone. I guess I will have to wait until December. That wouldn't be so bad if my Blackberry would quit acting goofy. I don't know if it's the phone, the BB software, or the service provider, but it's really getting on my nerves.

After we left the store, we went to Muskogee to see "17 Again". John had told me we could go to any movie I wanted, he was in for a good "chick flick". Well, it was - a chick flick. It was cute, but not so sure about how good it was. With a theater of about eight people, John was the only guy. Oh well. He asked for it. I have a great husband.

Hope everyone had a great day!

Fundraisers

We are gearing up to raise money for a couple of events Hannah is going to participate in. The first being the UCO Endeavor Games. This will be in Edmond in June. Hannah will be running in a couple of events, as well as participating in a few clinics with, as she says, "kids like me." The second event will be going back to La Jolla in October to the Challenged Athletes Foundation triathlon. To raise money for these, we are going to have the silicone bracelets, available in hot pink and royal blue, that say "Hannah can!! Philippians 4:13" They will be available for a minimum donation of $4, $5 if they are mailed out. We are also working on putting together a t-shirt that will say "I'm a Hanna fan, because Hannah can! Philippians 4:13". These will be available for a minimum $15 donation. A portion of the proceeds of both of these will go to both CAF and CMN (Children's Miracle Netowrk).

The bracelets will be here in about two weeks, and we are just going to start taking pre-orders on the t-shirts. Let me know if you are interested in either one. I will post pics when we get them in.

On another note, Hannah is back to her old self. Thank you for your prayers.

Have a great day!

Excitement!!

We had some excitement around here this week. I received a call from Boys and Girl's Club Thursday afternoon that Hannah wasn't feeling well, and I needed to come pick her up from school. The girls usually stay late on Tuesdays, and now Thursdays, to practice with the BGC after school music group. When I got there, Hannah was asleep in a chair, by the front desk. For the next hour, she was either OUT, or crying inconsolably. I couldn't get her to tell me what was wrong. She eventually told me her eye hurt. I tried to get her to let me look at it, but again, she was out. When it was time to pick up Alexis, Hannah finally came to enough to say that her head hurt. Finally she was able to tell me she had fallen at school. Then the fun began. The search was on to find someone who was with her when she fell so I could find out what actually happened.

Little miss had fallen on the playground and hit the back of her head. (We have since found out that she fell a second time within a short period of time and hit her head in the same area) The picture above is what Hannah looked like while OUT from a concussion. Sorry for the poor quality, it was taken with my cell phone. My neighbor, who happens to be Lexi's teacher, graciously took care of Lex and Nathaniel so I could rush Hannah to the ER. She was starting to come around some by that point. We were triaged, and the nurse went ahead and ordered a CT for her. She told me to go back to the waiting room and they would get her for the scan, but to let her know if she started showing any more symptoms (more headache, trouble walking or talking, or vomiting). About a minute passed, then the vomiting began. Needless to say, we were "fast tracked" back to ct and a room.

Praise the Lord, the ct showed no skull fracture or brain bleed. She started to come around and we got to come home. Yesterday she still wasn't quite acting like herself, so I took her back yesterday for a second ct, and it too was clear. This morning, she was still a little "off" until she was awake for a couple of hours. I know it's probably going to be a couple more days until she it fully back.

This ordeal made us realize that even though she is a pretty tough cookie, she can still be fragile. As for me, I think I've had enough drama and excitement for one week. Between me going to the dentist Monday, and this beginning Thursday, I'm looking forward to a nice, quiet week.