First time meeting Daddy!!!

Jason was blessed with lots of love at the airport!  He said the kids ran up to him right away.....they look so happy.  Jason met all three of our Ugandan children in this very same place, the airport. :)

Court Date Update!!

I just heard from Jason and we are celebrating today!!!! Court went perfectly this morning! We will be receiving our ruling June 15th and he has assured us it will be favorable!!!! PRAISE GOD! After the ruling comes the Embassy appointment and then home! Hopefully it will only take a week after the ruling for them to come home!!!


Jason's birthday is the 16th so this will be an amazing birthday gift for him! Last year we got Abigail's visa on the 16th. It literally will take a few days more then it took to get Abigail, my oh my is that hard to believe. We'll take it!! Soon we will be together and we are all Praising God for his favor today.

The countdown begins!!! PRAISE HIM!!

Oh, and the kids ADORE Jason. They were singing and dancing, reading books and snuggling. He said he was bonded already. Ahhh.......He's such a great Dad and I'm so glad he gets this time there alone with them. Even though we didn't plan on him having to go this time, I'm so grateful it worked out the way that it did!

Hello everyone! I came home on Friday afternoon and enjoyed an incredible weekend with my family. My kids were so excited for us all to be together and they have GROWN so much!!! It was awesome seeing them after almost 3 months! Nolan had 3 baseball games in 2 days so we were hittin the ballfields the first night!

As God's timing is so perfect we woke up to an email today that we have a court date on Friday!!!! WOW! So we have spent the day confirming that time and getting another plane ticket back to Uganda! This time it will be Jason's turn. I am too worn out and emotionally exhausted to head back. I can't WAIT for the kids to meet him. So our family will once again be seperated for a bit but as we know His timing is perfect.

So we are once again packing!!! Jason is getting sub plans for school ready and we're booking a ticket out for Wednesday today! Our case was allocated to who is to be considered the best judge hearing adoption cases right now so we were praising Him for the mercy he has shown on us. So we are asking for prayers and fasting on Thursday for a positive and speedy ruling from the judge!!!!

I'm doing great, the jetlag has been harder then normal, I haven't felt well since I've been home. It's also a more difficult transition emotionally as I was gone a lot longer then last time. I was even more bonded with the kids so my heart ached the whole way home. They are having a blast with Kelly and Simon and seemed to be doing well. Elijah is testing all the rules as a normal 2 year old would. :) He was so confused when I left and my heart hurt because I knew he just didn't understand.

All that said, I apologize I haven't gotten back to emails or phone calls yet, I haven't seen my kids in almost 3 months so they are demanding ALL my attention at the present time and I am giving it to them. I have an incredible amount of things to catch up on here! Including sleep! So I'm apologizing now it will be a little bit, I am completely overwhelmed at this point!

Thanks for all your continued prayers this past week as I traveled home and thanks for your continued prayers for a court date!! They were answered!!! So we are praising Him for this amazing news today and even though I have hardly had time to see Jason, I'm SO excited for him to get to the kids and bring them home!!!!

I will send updates as we have them!!

Have a blessed week!

Heavy Heart

Ohhhhhh it's with a heavy heart that I write this email.......
Our case will not be heard tomorrow. We found out today that the new judge hearing our case will only allow us to have guardianship of the children if we live IN Uganda for 3 years. We have chosen to withdraw our case to be reallocated to another judge. Living here 3 years is NOT the law in Uganda so we are shocked at the qualifications that he has issued upon cases.

I am leaving Uganda on Thursday night and Jason will be returning upon new of a new court date. This could be happening in the next couple of weeks but we are not sure. Please continue to pray for peaceful transitions and peace during our absense. I am simply at a loss for explanation or words at this time. I am tired and at this point I'm angry that we have been here so long and unable to bring these children home.

I am continuing to look to God for guidence and I will seek His Will in the coming days. For now I am just devastated as what we thought was an answer to our long awaited prayers was simply not. For now we will wait on Him.

Thanks for your prayers and fasting today on behalf of our family...

Weekly Update#12 and Prayer Requests!!!

We have MASSIVE prayer and fasting requests for tomorrow! Here is the details:

I have court on Wednesday morning at 9:00 am, that is 2:00 am Eastern time in Michigan. Any warriors that would love to join Jason in prayer is welcome at that time! The court usually takes anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks to receive a ruling so we won't know immediately what will happen. We have been in court before though and we will have a very good indication. Upon receiving our verbal ruling we will wait for our written ruling and then apply for an Embassy appointment. On the fast end of things we are still looking at a 2-3 weeks, IF we get a positive ruling.
Now, the reason we don't know many things is because our judge is brand new. He's never ever ruled on a case before and his first case he's hearing as a family division judge is on Tuesday. So we have nothing to compare to. We don't know how fast he will issue a ruling or how he will handle legal guardianship application. We are praying for a positive outcome!

So we are asking for massive prayers and fasting tomorrow. Please join us in raising the judge up to the Lord to do whats in the best interest of the children. Pray for our attorney, our witnesses coming in to testify, the biological father, peace in my own heart and for my children. If the father appears in court the Rebekah will have to face the man that very severely abused her and I'm praying for strength in her little heart to be able to sit there peaceful. This is a situation with very severe abuse and no child should ever have to endure what she has had to.

This has been the single longest week of my entire life! The waiting has been more exhausting then the last 11 weeks itself! I'm feeling MUCH MUCH better and I thank everyone for their prayers! I'm trying to keep myself busy until tomorrow and then it will be prayers all day. I'm praising God it's only been an 8 day wait! God came through in the last hour! I had released everything to him and had my ticket booked home and BAM, there was the court date. :) Ahhhhh I am learning to surender.

How much I have LEARNED in my time here, however the children and I are ready to be home. I've learned that you serve God through serving and ministering others. I'm anxious to get home and be doing that consistently in our community at home. I've learned that If I'm not serving others or ministering to people about our Lord and Savior then the Holy Spirit can't shine through. All I want to be a Light for Him! So I'm praying us home to be a light in Michigan! It's only by His strength we have been able to endure this and I am grateful he chose me to be on this journey.

I will update as I have them, thank you for the continued prayers, I had over a hundred emails last week and I just couldn't get to all of them but I love each and every one of them!!! Thank you for getting the community involved in prayers and bringing this all together for the Glory of God!

WE HAVE A COURT DATE!!!

Our prayers were answered this week with an official court date on May 18 at 9 am.

Giving all the Glory to God, this was done by His hands and in His perfect timing.  PRAISE HIM!!!!

Perhaps the greatest belated Mother's Day gift EVER

Week #10 update!

Ten weeks!!! Double digits!!! This week is a tough week for us. We still have no court date, we do know that the judge has accepted our file and will be issuing one but at this time there is not idea as to when. It could be this week, next week, maybe a month, maybe two? Hence the dangers of traveling BEFORE you have a court date. Haha. Although I do still recommend it :)


With that being said Jason and I decided it’s time for me to come home for a bit. If we don’t get word of a court date this week I will be leaving Uganda on Friday night. I need a couple of weeks to recover medically, emotionally and we have exhausted ourselves financially. When we left we were thinking we were leaving 2 weeks early and it’s now turned into 10! BUT, I know God sent us here early to be with our kids. And as soon as the judge issues that court date I will be on the first flight back for the kids! My children are amazing and in the last 2 ½ months they’ve learned in person they have a family that loves them unconditionally and mother that just adores them. That is priceless. I’m so happy that I got to be here with them and as painful as it feels that I have to leave them temporarily, I know that they will be home soon. This adoption is in His time and I continue to praise that God knows what is best for my family. And yes that means I could end up coming home and coming back in a week if I get called to court.

My kids at home need their mom to come home for a bit, this has been a challenge for Abigail but she has grown leaps and bounds and we are so proud of her. Yesterday she was begging me to come home on Skype and I feel like my kids at home are ready for a break. If you are in town near my children PLEASE don’t say anything, the kids don’t know I’m coming home yet, we are keeping that a surprise!! I have missed them terribly and I’ve missed my incredible husband. I couldn’t ask for a more supportive and Godly man, how blessed I am. I can’t WAIT to see him!

The awesome thing about being here was being able to take Rebekah and Elijah out of the horrible situation they were in. They were living in the slums. When I went to pick them up they were wondering around unattended, filthy and in desperate need of love and FOOD. They’ve each gained over 5 pounds since I have had them! The last month and a half the kids and I have spent almost every day with my friends Kelly and Simon. My children refer to them as aunt and uncle and their eyes light up every time they come over. The best part? They will be staying with them until we can return for court. So they are familiar with them, their house, the rules and I think they will think of this as a “fun time” to be able to go there. Kelly is from Michigan and Simon is Ugandan and they are married and live here permanently.   God has really blessed our family with these two people they have been an INCREDIBLE help for me. Kelly often times offers to take the kids so I have a couple of hours to myself. I’ve had the kids 24/7 without a break since I got here so I was elated at the opportunity to spend a couple of hours of quiet time!! Absolutely priceless and always offering to do things for me to take some of the stress off.

So this week our prayers are for peaceful transitions. We could still get a court date this week or anytime for that fact, so we pray for that and pray for the heart of my children as I leave them to come home on Friday. I am asking for prayers for a full recovery from this malaria and prayers for my own heart as I have to leave them. It’s so horrible to leave two children but yet exciting because I get to see my two children at home. I feel very torn.

Thank you all for your prayers and fasting this week, I could feel all of them during our most desperate times. Uganda was very peaceful this week, no riots so we were praising God for that! And although I don’t understand it I will Praise Him now for the path he has paved to bring our babies home. I’ve grown more spiritually in the last 4 weeks here then I have in my entire life and my trust is completely in Him to finish this. Why worry? He’s got it covered.

PRAYING AND FASTING ON WEDNESDAY MAY 4TH

This was an email from my dear friend Melissa Minnox......

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice

and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

and break every yoke?"

Isaiah 58:6 NIV

I know most of you do not know me, but I met Jason and Heather in Uganda last year when they were there to adopt Abigail and I was there to adopt my daughter Dorie.

We became fast friends and a great encouragment to each other during all that waiting.

Now the Osborns are waiting again--and I want to DO something. But what can we do? We are so far away. We have no pull within the Ugandan court system.

But we know God.

Almighty God.

King of Kings.

Lord of Lords.

Our Lord Jesus told His disciples that we can move mountains if we only have faith as small as a mustard seed, but that some things also require prayer and fasting.
(Matthew 17:19-21)

And look at Esther. She was adopted (don't you love it??), and God placed her in a situation where the Jews were going to be slaughtered unless she acted. So what did she do? She called her people to pray and fast for three days. God moved and spared the nation of Israel (Esther 4).

How about Daniel? Jeremiah? Ezra? Nehemiah? King David? Paul and Barnabas? They all prayed and fasted for situations where they needed to see God move.

(Daniel 9, Jeremiah 36:6, Ezra 8:21 & 9:5, Nehemiah 1:4 & 9:1, Psalm 35:12-14, Acts 13-14)

Would you all join me in praying and fasting as a petition to the Lord to bring Rebekah and Elijah home?

I will be fasting all day on Wednesday, May 4 (tomorrow). Anyone want to join me? For one meal? Even two? All day?

Melissa

Maybe you don't understand what fasting is, or how to do it? Here is a link to a blog written by Linny Saunders. She is a pastor's wife, counselor, and mom to a bunch of sweet kiddos. She explains it beautifully:
http://aplacecalledsimplicity.blogspot.com/2009/05/fasting-what-is-deal-with-it-anyway.html

Pictures!!!! FINALLY!!!!

Never underestimate how much fun a simple beach ball can be :) 

 The beautiful sight from Prayer Mountain.

 

 This little guy crossed my path as we walked down to the beach.  As much as I don't like lizards his colors were spectacular to see.

 Palm tree at the beach.

 OH Elijah.

 One of my favorite pictures of the kids, just playing in the sand.  Two months ago they were playing with the garbage in the slums.  It's a beautiful sight.

 Elijahs first time playing baseball, he was thoroughly confused.  Not sure he looks like he's enjoying it.

 Neither does Rebekah:)

 This was taken at the Speke Resort in Kampala, I love the bee just landing on the flower.  They had the most beautiful flower gardens I had ever seen since being here.

 More flowers, the pictures don't do it justice.

 This little guy was on the kitchen counter trying to get into the bread.  Elijah and Rebekah were fascinated with the cameleon but SCREAMED when I touched him :)  He was friendly. :)

 My weight loss goal for my time here was 30 pounds.  I believe I'm around 20 although I'm not sure as I dont have a scale.  Either way, I'm pretty excited about it. :)

 Rebekah and Elijah in their bedroom at the apartment.  They LOVE having their own beds to sleep in.  Up until this point they've had to share a bed and before that they never had a bed at all.  They love them!

 Just a picture of a restaurant at the beach, the clouds were spectacular to take pictures of that day!

 Picture with the kids on day 59.  My how far we've come!

 This is a stork at the beach, look at how tall he in in comparison to the picnic table.  They are HUGE and ugly.  The head comes up to my rib cage.  HUGE.  Not the classic stork we envision bringing us babies. :)

 They loved the day at the beach

I was trying to take pictures of them while they looked at the water and they kept waving!

 My sweet girl. :)

 My handsome guy :)