counting our blessings

One of my favorite moments of the day is when Andrew and I get to debrief and talk about the day’s events – what went well, what was rough, what made us laugh. As we debriefed last night, we felt very thankful for a number of things….

• Legacy 685

This is the name of our adoption support group in Houston. Ever since we began the adoption process, we have been involved with this group – especially in recent months as we received our referrals and prepared to meet Ibra and Suma. They have been so open and willing to share their experiences with us, and as a result, we have felt very prepared for what we are walking through. Everything from meeting our kids for the first time, to attachment and connection, to discipline and managing meltdowns… all of that, coupled with the foundation that our parents laid for us have made us feel pretty prepared to get these two kiddos. We’re so thankful.

• Suma’s home

We are so excited to have Suma with us, and we are thankful that in the meantime, she is in a wonderful home. When we came home from court yesterday, she shouted for joy when she saw her aunties and her friend Enoch, and they were so happy to see her too! As we walked in, one of the aunties gave a small brown paper sack to Andrew...they had saved the clothes that she was found in so that we could have them. Wow. It will be hard to leave them; they have been so good to her and to us.

• MAF and Aid Sudan

Mission Aviation Fellowship is the organization that flies Aid Sudan in and out of South Sudan. They have a family who is on furlough, and we’ll look forward to house-sitting for them soon. We are really looking forward to having the opportunity to have better control of our schedules, cooking and family time.

We are also thankful for our Aid Sudan family in Uganda. It was been so encouraging to spend time with them, particularly on the days when we have felt a little overwhelmed at all the changes with the kiddos. We are also thankful to be able to borrow a car as one of them travels with the Aid Sudan team next week. To be able to get to a real store (!) and get groceries (!) – hooray!

Finally, here are a few pictures from today. We had fun playing outside for awhile at Suma's home with the kids, and we're looking forward to more playtimes!