We received the results from the kids' additional medical screenings this week; all tests came back negative. While we had no reason to believe otherwise, as I'm sure you can imagine it was still great news to hear. Both children are physically and mentally healthy with no impairments; Macy even has some of her adult teeth already! The doctor did say he believes the children are older than what was originally thought due to their height and weight (I'm sure Macy's teeth were an indicator as well). Like we said in earlier posts, birthdays aren't an exact science like they are here in America. After looking at our options, we decided to adjust their birthdays slightly to align with the doctor's estimates. So, rather than picking up two 3 year olds it looks like we will be picking up a 4 year old (Macy) and a 3 year old (Malachi) with birthdays in October and November (respectively). Believe it or not we put a lot of thought into their birthdays, you wouldn't believe how complex it can be! :)
The positive report from the doctor triggered the next phase of this journey; signing the official referral document/contract and wiring our first (huge) financial installment to Uganda; we did that on Friday. You all may or may not know this about us, but we are huge fans of Dave Ramsey; Dave Ramsey is NOT a huge fan of debt (he hates it, actually). Julie and I committed early in this process to staying debt-free. We knew that God was calling us to adopt and we knew that we would not be able to do it alone, so this was one of the biggest areas in which we simply had to trust God and step out in faith. Being able to wire that sum of money and have a peace about it has been such a testimony to God's faithfulness. He truly will supply all our needs according to His riches and glory and we've been so humbled to see that verse come to life right before our eyes; all glory and honor to our heavenly Father!
As if the adoption hasn't been keeping us busy enough these last two weeks, we have also been hosting an exchange student from South Africa at our home. Her name is Precious and she's 13. She's here with a group of students and teachers to learn about the American education system. They have been visiting schools around Lakeland to learn TTPs and bring them back to S. Africa. You're probably thinking, "what the heck is a TTP?". Thought I would throw that one in there for you non-military folk :). It's a military acronym that stands for "Tactics, Techniques and Procedures" and is a pretty good explanation of what they were doing. When they're not visiting schools, we've had the pleasure of showing Precious our little slice of America. To say that our diet has suffered would be putting it mildly. We've been to pizza places, McDonald's, Checker's, BBQ, Burger 21 and let's not forget Chick-Fil-A! On Monday, we were even able to show her the Magic Kingdom! We had to call in a lot of favors, but it was so worth it; they had a blast with Space Mountain being the unanimous favorite among the students that were able to join us. We thought we'd include some pictures of our family as it has looked for the past two weeks in this update. She leaves on Monday; we will miss her but are grateful for the opportunity to get to know her and look forward to keeping in touch with her. Isn't technology great!?
As always, we appreciate you for following our journey, continue to covet your prayers as we navigate this process and are so grateful for your generosity!
In Christ,
Nate and Julie
John 14:18 "I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you."
Welcome at the airport!
Disney World!
Church!
Mini Golf!
First Friday downtown Lakeland!
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