A few small updates...

Nothing huge to report, but a few small things to share. 

Cody and I get our immigration fingerprinting done next Tuesday.  This puts us one step closer to getting their approval, which is our last step on the US-side.  Please pray that we get our approval from them quickly.

Sunday morning (at 4am!) I got to talk to Dr. Patrick.  He is working on getting the information needed to verify Mercy's orphan status.  He needed the contact information for our attorney, which I happily and groggily provided.  They are awaiting word from at least one other person.  Hopefully, that will happen this week.

No huge news on the situation with the Embassy.  There are rumors and such, but nothing is certain.  I believe they are awaiting for approval from some other government ministries.  I hate that all of this takes precious time, but I am glad that both governments are working hard to do things above reproach and in the best interests of the children.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support!

My little model...

Avery modeled her Mercy shirt for me today.  She picked her whole fab outfit.  She should have been born in the 80's.  She loves leggings and tying up her shirts with pony tails. I'm sick of arguing with her about her outfits and just let her go with it.  We did tone down the accessories for school.

Interested in Adoption...

If any of you are interested in adoption at all... going through an adoption, have adopted, are adopted, want to start an adoption ministry at your church, or want to go on a mission trip to help orphans (whew, that's a lot of people!) I highly recommend that you check out these sermons/conferences here from the recent "Adopting for Life" conference that was held at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.  Speakers include David Platt (one of my personal faves!) and Russell Moore (author of "Adopted for Life") along with a host of other great people.  I listened to three hours worth of it yesterday afternoon on my way to take Kynnedy home and I hope to hear more this week.

Baby Reminders...

We have had the privelege this week of babysitting my niece, Kynnedy. She is staying a total of 10 days with us.  She is 16 months old and so much fun. We have loved having her around. She's also been a great reminder of life with a baby. With my kids spaced more than 4 years apart, it's easy to forget the little things... waking up in the middle of the night because of teething, making sure the baby gate is always closed on the stairs,  having to change a dirty diaper right when you need to be walking out the door, having an extra set of clothes and snacks in the diaper bag.  You know, the little things.  I had also forgotten just how much fun it is to have a baby in the house. She just cracks us up all of time. She babbles and has some very "serious" conversations with anyone who will listen.  She likes to cuddle. She loves to explore and finds such joy in a new toy, a cup of juice, or a bath. She's done a great job of testing out of a few of the toys I picked up for Mercy.  She gives them two thumbs up! 

As you can see, even our dog, Morley, is excited to have a baby in the house again.  He loves little people that drop (or throw) food for him to eat up.  And let me just say how awesome Emma and Avery are with her.  They look out for her, play with her, and even changed a couple of diapers (believe it or not they wanted to do this)!  Yesterday, I needed to take a shower, so I asked Emma and Avery to keep their eye on her.  I told them that if she got out of hand to just put her in her bed and I'd go as quickly as possible.  I expected to get out and hear her crying.  Instead, I heard music playing and lots of laughing.  They were having a dance party.  Kynnedy loved it!  Life as a family of five is going to be fun.  I'm so glad Kynnedy has helped to prepare us.  It's going to seem quiet around here when she leaves... ok, who am I kidding, not quiet, but a little less noisy.

Tupperware and Scentsy

I need your help!  We are working hard to get all of the money together that we will need to bring Mercy home.  Now that we have a possible timeline of travelling in late April or May, we are in a crunch to get it all together quickly.  As I mentioned a few days ago, we have two fundraisers going on now. 

Our first one is with Scentsy.  I just got our catalogs for this and a basket of sample scents.  If you would be willing to ask your friends and co-workers to help us out please let me know and I'll get you some catalogs and you can borrow the samples if you'd like or you can ask people to check out all of the products online here.

Next up is Tupperware.  The catalogs for this are in the mail and I hope to get them in a few days.  But the online party is open!  You (or anyone you know) can go here and order online.  We get 40% of all sales from Tupperware!

We really appreciate your help in getting the word out about this.  You are a blessing!

Hope!!

I'm so excited to tell you that there is progress in Uganda.  Our prayers are being answered and things are moving toward resolution.  You can look at the Lifeline blog here to read their update from today.  I've also read this news on several blogs.  This means that the judges now have the ok to give the needed wording in the guardianship papers to allow for adoption in the U.S.  We now have to wait and see if the Embassy will except this wording, but it looks very good.  Thankfully, this also means that the families that have been over there for months now may finally get to bring their children home in the next week or two.  Praise God!

A glimmer of hope...

Ok, so I know I should not get too excited and should not put too much hope in this date, but I heard from our attorney today.  He said that as long as the situation with the courts gets resolved and he doesn't run into any hang-ups on his end, we should be able to get a court hearing for late April or early May.  Woo hoo!!  Wow, that's only about 6 weeks away.  Today my mind has been racing with all of the things to get ready so we can go.    But it is so nice to think that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and that in a short amount of time, we might get to hold Mercy in our arms. 

Still no word of resolution in Uganda.  One woman got a ruling today with what looks to be the correct wording, but she does not know if this will be accepted by the Embassy.  It seems that the Embassy is leery of accepting any ruling right now until an official stance is given to them by the Ugandan Chief Justice.  I've been told that one of the head judges has been out of the country and just returned this week.  They need his opinion in order to form an official stance.  Hopefully, now that he has returned a resolution will be reached soon.   Pray for the families that are stuck there right now.  It's been 6 weeks and they do not have any idea when they might get to come home.  This is a huge financial and emotional burden for them.

FUNdraising!

We have a few great new ways to raise money for our adoption.  Things I think you would probably buy anyway!  Before we know it, we will have a lot of our major expenses due (airline tickets, lawyer fees, travel) so your help would be greatly appreciated.

First up... Scentsy. I just got introduced to Scentsy a few weeks ago. I must say I am impressed with mine so far. These are wickless scent warmers that really do fill your house with wonderful smells in a short amount of time. Plus, you don't have to worry about burning your house down or your kids getting burned. I know a lot of you are already Scentsy-addicts, so this will be perfect for you. Kylie Phillips, has graciously offered to do a fundraising catalog and home show for me. She is giving up all of her commission to Mercy. How cool is that! Plus, the new Spring catalog just came out with all new stuff. So, if you are already familiar with Scentsy and know what you would like or if you live out of town you can go here to shop online.  Just click on my party that is listed on the left side of the pade.  Or, if you live in the greater Mulvane area, I am having a Scentsy party at my house on Thursday, April 8th, at 6:30pm. You can try out of all of the different scents, look at the different styles of warmers, and most importantly, enjoy good girl time! Anyone is welcome to the party, so invite a few friends to come with you. If you live nearby, but can't make it to the party, I will have a basket of sample scents. Let me know and I'll bring it by for you to try out.  Kylie also makes fabulous hair bows and headbands. They are too cute! Here are a few examples. She'll have these available at my house too. I can't wait to put a few on Mercy!

 

Next up... Tupperware.  I'm hosting a catalog party for Tupperware.  40% of all sales will go towards adoption expenses!  If you have not checked out Tupperware products in a while, you are in for a treat.   You can look at the products online or I will have catalogs available.  It would be great if a few of you would be willing to take the catalogs to work or to share with your friends/family.  Please let me know if you would be willing to do this for us.  It would be a huge help!  I'll post the link to the online shopping site as soon as I get it.  Orders for this party will be placed at the end of the month when Tupperware offers a free shipping deal for orders going through me (not out of town or online orders).

Also, I will be placing the 2nd t-shirt order next week.  So if you or someone you know would like one please let me know ASAP.  Just send me an e-mail with your size (melissabusby@hotmail.com).    Here's a pic of one little cutie modeling his Mercy shirt. Don't forget to send me a photo of you in yours!!

Finally, a few of you have told me I need to post donation information again... so here it goes.   If anyone would like to make a donation to our adoption fund you have a couple of options.  If you need a tax-donation receipt you can send donations through our church.  Send them to First Baptist Church, Attn. Financial Secretary, PO Box 69, Mulvane, KS 67110.  Please attach a note asking for the money to go toward our trip fund.  If you would like to remain anonymous or for the amount to be anonymous you may also request that in your note.  Other donations can be made through PayPal.  Just go to the "Send Money" tab,  Enter my email address (melissabusby@hotmail.com) and then an amount.  Then click the "personal" tab at the bottom and mark "gift".  

Thank you again for your love and support! 

Chubby Cheeks

My heart is overwhelmed.  As you can see we got some new pictures of Mercy yesterday.  I can not tell you how grateful Cody and I are to have Pastor Wilber in our lives.  He graciously, offered to go check on her yesterday, even though this is a sacrifice of his time and money.  He got to talk to the woman who is caring for Mercy and then the woman's husband walked Mercy over to the clinic for him to see.  Wilber said that the woman's husband was in charge of getting her dressed yesterday and that he did not know how to dress a baby.  Some things are universal, as I remember apologizing a few times for the way Cody dressed Emma or Avery. =)  She looks healthy.  I think she may have had a hair cut too.  I love those chubby cheeks. The nurse says she is eating mashed food, eggs, bean soup, and fruit.  By the way, she turned 9 months old this week. 

In other news, I spent $115 yesterday at FedEx to ship all of our paperwork to our attorney in Uganda.  Ouch!  It should be there in about a week.  Yesterday, I also bought a few things for Mercy.  I went to a consignment sale last night and picked up a few toys.  I can't believe it, but I was able to contain myself and not buy any clothes. Since I don't really know what size to get, I told myself it was not practical to buy clothes yet.  And I have a feeling she will be spoiled rotten by a lot of people!

Please continue to pray for the situation with the courts and the US Embassy.  I've read that we should have some sort of resolution within the next week, but who knows.