Tick-tock; as we wait for Wednesday

Hello friends,
It is Monday morning around 12 noon and Jimmy and I are relaxing on the porch of the guest house. Boe and Mac are doing some school work and Leia just went up to Claudia’s house to play with the girls who are now finished with their school work. I was going to go into Kampala with Carolyn and a bus full of children and house mothers to take children who were getting checked out at the hospital but the doctor called this morning and said the apt. has been changed until tomorrow. It was going to be an all day affair, with ten children with different handicap needs seeing the doctor and the hospital is hours away. They have to go prepared with bedding, food, a house mother and a cook for the children if they need to stay overnight. Their hospital stay only includes the medical part, you provide the rest! They are thinking the doctor might admit 3 children to stay overnight.

Last night, we experienced our first real African rain storm. It gave new meaning to the term torrential for me. Our guest house has a tin roof and I have always said I loved a good rain on a tin roof, but last night I felt like I was in between an episode of Little House on the prairie and the Wizard of Oz. The little house on the prairie part is when we were awakened by our wood shutters, that are on the outside of the windows (in addition to the screen shudders on the inside) flew open and banged on the side of the house. The rain and wind were so strong Jimmy and I were having to talk over it to give instructions while we were trying to close up everything again so the rain would not get in. There was also a leak flooding a corner of the floor that I found just before it bled under our suitcases. I felt like Charles and Caroline Ingles during one of their “storms” racing to get the animals out of the barn, or the crops harvested before everything was ruined. Ok, so things seem bigger when you are awakened at night.

We are all well, trying to follow the “rules” of keeping hydrated, etc. Boe and Mac had a little bout with dehydration yesterday but we got them on a regimen of Gatorade and they felt much better after lunch. We are getting excited that its Monday and our court date is coming in 2 days!! Please join us in praying that our judge will find favor with our family and give us a quick approval. The usual timeframe for this judge and approvals is a week but Claudia said she has been in a case where the judge gave immediate approval and this would allow us to begin the other necessary things, like visa and passport, and doctors visit for Zuri. Zuri has a bad cough today. Please pray for her that she can get the care she needs while we are here. Of course I wish I could take her to a doctor in the states but since that is not possible I am trying to trust in her care here. I am trying to be content here while really wanting to bring her home and begin caring for her. I spoke with Claudia about her story yesterday and will share that with you once I have more details and can tell you the whole thing. My emotions stay raw as I find out things and I am overcome with gratefulness that our Lord chose to watch over her like he has and has led her to our family. I have already developed a love for her that can not bear to picture her where she would have been living. I hope I never take for granted the Lord’s gift to Zuri and to our family.