Slight Update :-)

Hello everybody! Welcome to our world of waiting! :-) Although, believe it or not - it's peaceful here! Nate and I have been presented with an opportunity and we're just waiting patiently to hear from the Lord in which direction we should proceed.
There hasn't been any new information, but we do know that in the middle of December there will be a final investigation where these two children are concerned. We are so thankful that our agency works with professionals in Uganda who want to be ethical and above reproach! Therefore, they will be making sure all paperwork is in place, all the right people have been interviewed and these children are true orphans in need of a family. Once the investigation is complete, we will need to make a decision.
Please be praying for us in this. We desire to do exactly what God has called us to do, and we are aware that sometimes His calling is not what we thought it would be, but we just need clear direction.
A friend of ours recently described a time in her life when she was asking God to speak to her. She desperately wanted to hear from the Lord and to know that He was speaking, so she asked Him to be very loud in His response, no whispers or little hints. This is exactly what we're praying for now (I like to call it the "neon sign"!) :-) Please pray with us in the next few weeks that we will hear God clearly. That we will know exactly what to say when the next call comes.
Thank you so much! It is such a blessing to know that we don't walk this alone. We know there are people all over that are walking us through in prayer. I believe that is where the peace comes from, only God's peace, asked for from God's people! Thank you Thank you Thank you!!

Now for some Totally Random...fun pictures! :-)

Happy November!

Hello Everyone! I have been absent for awhile now... but that's mainly because I feel that "waiting" is not that interesting a topic to write about! :-) We've still been pretty busy, the adoption fundraising has slowed a bit, but that's ok - the Lord is letting us catch our breath!

So.. what's been happening....?

Well, the girls and I are in full force with school, like everyone else, but we won't be taking much of a break this year. We'll do school through the holidays, because school will probably slack some when we have 2 more little bodies in the house!

We've been learning a lot about serving others, giving of ourselves and what it means to "go and make disciples." Nate and I are especially excited about doing more with the latter...

At the end of October Nate and I (along with my parents and some of our friends) traveled to D.C. so the husbands could participate in the Marine Corps Marathon - yep, that's right... my man ran 26.2 miles....AT. ONE. TIME! Barf, if you ask me... I tackled the Marine Corps 10K (that's 6.2 for those of you counting!) with my sweet friend Jenn... which is much more my speed! It was a beautiful day for a run though.. even though there was a hurricane about to come through!

We got home on October 31, just in time for Nate to have drill weekend, and leave for a week long training in Jacksonville.

Many of you might know that at the beginning of October, Madelyn felt like this adoption process was taking too long and she wanted to ask God for "The Call" to come by the end of October. (Mind you, we began this process 6 short months ago) :-) Oh and "The Call" is the Referral Call, when we hear from our agency that there are specific children in Uganda waiting for parents.

Well, October came and went with no call - I really hadn't thought much of it (because the girls had already changed their prayers to "and I pray that we would receive "The Call" before the end of November!) lol persistence :-)

Well, wouldn't you know it - out of the blue on November 2 - my phone rang with such a call! We were told about two children in Uganda that might be available for adoption soon! As of right now, the courts are closing over there - so there is nothing more for us to do but learn more about these kids, pray for God's direction and peace.... and wait. Courts should open again in late January and we will make a decision and know more around that time.

If you will, please remember us in prayer these next few months - that we will be open to God's leading, that we will hear Him clearly and that whatever the direction, we will move with boldness and peace.
Also keep in mind the families that are currently in country trying to bring their children home - it can be a crazy and very stressful situation all around. Please pray that God's Will will be done!

Thank you for reading and praying us through this journey! I have said it before, and will say it again - there is no way we could do this without you and your support, we are so humbled and grateful! 

Now... what's a blog post without some pics...?

 Doing a little science at home...

 Learning about rain clouds

 looking for tadpoles and other wildlife at Circle B

 these magnifiers are awesome!! (look at Maddie's face!)

 Both girls are teaching themselves how to draw!

 A Fun Break with Friends!

 Ab got her license early! :-)

 Cars and boating...apparently! :-)

Learning all about different kinds of shells

 Putting the treasure in the bottle

Garage Sale Pics

A few t-shirts and giraffes sold

There was never a dull moment!

Help from friends, selling drinks and snacks (and their moms organized and haggled with customers!)

We could not have worked this huge sale by ourselves! We are so thankful for those that came to help!

Ab got a math lesson after all - counting and sorting!!

We're still here.. :-)

I haven't forgotten about you - there hasn't been much to report these days.
We are in full swing in the "waiting game." All of our paperwork is in Uganda and we have received word that our immigration paperwork was approved (so now we are ready to travel.) But, now we wait. We are waiting for our "referral call" - the one that says there are two little boys who need a family and the voice on the other end asks if we would like to be that family! The call could come today or in 6 months.... of this, we have no control.
However... we have been studying The Circle Maker at church and Nate and I have been encouraged to pray boldly for things only God could do, (and by "things" I don't mean "stuff" - just clarifying!) :-) Although, we have enjoyed the study - we had not told the girls about it, yet we continue to pray with them every night as they ask the Lord to protect their brothers and keep them safe until they can be home with us. Well, at the beginning of October, Maddie (our 5 yr old) began expressing her frustration over having to wait so long for her brothers (which is cute in kid terms - but it really hasn't been that long!) :-) So, that night during her prayer time she decided that she was going to ask God to "give us the 'call' by the end of the month" so we would know who the boys were and the next process would begin.
Nate and I knew that this was something that we could join in with her and pray boldly for - it's definitely the "thing" that only God can do! So, that's what we have been doing - we plead for the boys everyday, for their safety, their health, that someone will love them and care for them until we can, and now we are praying, boldly, that we will be made known of who they are by the end of October! It's kind of an awkward prayer, because we know full well that God has this under control and that He alone knows what is best for the boys and for our family - so, we of course want His best for us. We also continue to pray that His Will, will be done in our lives - so if He chooses not to honor this request, we will not falter in trusting, serving or loving Him as Lord of our lives.
How wonderful would it be though, if it all began with the prayers of a 5 year old!?!?! :-) I'm just sayin... :-)
If you feel so led, we would love for you to join in praying boldly with us and I will be sure to update the blog when "The Call" has been received! :-)
I'm off to enjoy this beautiful weather that is finally here - if even for the short morning hours! :-)

Oh! I will post garage sale pics, etc... soon :-)

The Garage Sale is 6 days away!!!!

Hello Friends! Next week is the big garage sale!!! I will post some pictures of what our house and garage are beginning to look like! We're running out of walking space.... I love it!!! Thank you so much to everyone who has donated - I am expecting God to do great things!!! :-)

Along those lines... how would you feel about helping out? There are many way to be a part....
1) Come over Thursday night to help us make signs and put them around town AND do some sorting of all the goodies.
2) Help set up Friday at 6am (We might need help setting up on Saturday also, but Friday will be the big day with the most stuff)
3) Help tear down both days and possibly be willing to load the remaining goods up for charities

4) Help us work the garage sale - We will have a table to sell giraffes and our t-shirts also and that will need constant attention, and then of course just helping anyone who comes up!

Please let me know if you're available to help and in what area! Thank you again for all your support - we couldn't do any of this without such loving and faithful friends and family - we are so appreciative of each one of you!!

Today is a good day!!!

Guess what we did today...???

Oh, Ok... I will tell you... We mailed all 65 (or so) pages documenting our lives off to Uganda!! The nice folks at FedEx said the package should be there by this Tuesday (which I think is warp speed coming from someone who has mailed packages to Afghanistan, Kuwait and Sudan... of course, I didn't pay for those what I paid today... but still...) :-)

So... we no longer have any control over how the process will continue (not that we had much control to begin with...) but it's that feeling when you know you have done everything that was asked of you and now the rest will be by divine appointment. So, the next step is to (patiently) wait for a call about the boys God has ordained to be part of our family! So exciting!!!

In the mean time we are continuing to raise funds for our trip and stay in Uganda (so we can pick the boys up!)
We are still sewing and selling giraffes - learn more about that here and here.

We are also selling t-shirts now... the pictures are not the best, they are from my cell phone, taken by a 6 yr old after a long day at the pool... that's just how it goes... you get the gist! :-)

They read: Uganda - 2.5 Million - Minus Two "I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you." John 14:18
If you are interested in purchasing... the adults shirts are grey and are $12 - the kid shirts are baby blue and are $10 (if you need it shipped please add $4, Thank you.) We have sm, med, and lrg in adult sizes and xs (which my girls wear) sm, and med in kid sizes. I will let you know when we sell out and have to order more!
(We are currently out of Adult Small t-shirts, but we are taking pre-orders for smalls and XL, or any other size you desire!) :-)

If you would like to learn more about other fundraising options please see the page above, and as always feel free to contact us through the blog, facebook, or email (juliebadams9204(at)gmail(dot)com)

Thank you so much for your support - we are so blessed to be walking this journey with so much love and encouragement around us

Quick Update

I have been meaning to update the blog for awhile now, but with my girls in Ohio for the last 10 days, I made myself rather busy with creating the play room into the girl's room and the girl's room into the boy's room! I've also been working on giraffes like mad! :-) I'm not the only one though, I have friends and family out there sewing giraffes, others collecting fabric, and still others selling them off for us! It's definitely a village working to bring these boys home, and we are so thankful for all of them! :-)
A quick update before I head off to our next adventure...
- Our paperwork for the adoption is nearly complete, we need to get some forms notarized and then approval from our agency and then it will go in the mail to Uganda! This should all happen in the next week or so! Yes, that is incredibly fast - at least quicker than what we were expecting, so please continue to pray for us as we ride this unpredictable roller coaster, and expectantly wait upon the Lord's provision!
- We have over 600 of the puzzle pieces sponsored already! We are so incredibly humbled when we look at the names on the back of all the pieces. I can't wait to see it put together and placed on the boy's wall! It is the most tangible way for them to see who has been praying them home before we ever knew them... I love it! If you've been meaning to get your name on a puzzle piece, please still do. There are plenty left and we would love to be able to tell our boys about each person's name that we read on the back!
- As of today, we have 46 giraffes going to Uganda!! They are sewn and in the box ready to go! It has been such an incredible few weeks watching our friends and family come together in support of this idea. They are helping us move things along and get the giraffes made and ready for an orphan! It's an overwhelming task and my dining room is showing the effects.. but it is temporary. Thank you to everyone who has purchased a giraffe, the funds are certainly helping us in this process, but more importantly than that, you have provided something small that will show an orphan someone loves him/her and is praying for them - thank you for being that person in their lives!
- Some of you may know that we're planning to have a garage sale in September to raise funds for the trip to Africa... more on that to come... but if you feel so inclined and want to help with that, we would certainly appreciate any donations you would be willing to part with! We'll talk more about that when it gets closer.

Thank you all for your prayers and support! Nate and I are growing so much in this process. We are constantly learning to rely only on God and allowing Him to lead the way. He has proven himself faithful over and over again - we are blessed by a God that created this world and everything in it and yet cares about the small details of our lives! That's pretty humbling...

More soon....