MEETING BILLY AND BECKY'S DAD

Well, I knew we had crossed the line in the process of adopting Billy and Becky and we were full bore ahead raising funds and making plans.

However, I had this peace of mind knowing that they didn't know.

Yesterday, that went away. I found out that Billy and Becky's dad had come by the orphanage to sign papers for the adoption after not having seen his children in 4 years. Well, that started Becky and Billy asking if they were gonna get to go home with their Daddy. This resulted in some confusion on their young minds, so the orphanage director decided that it would be best to just let them know instead.

So she read them our book and told me that they would now be reading it every day until we come in January. This sure does seem to change things... or at least make them feel more urgent.

Here's what Mandy (the orphanage director), said to me in an e-mail regarding Becky and Billy's response to the news:

We discussed that daddy in Uganda loved them but is very worried that he had no food for them. Then Uncle William (the men at the orphanage are called "uncle" and the women "mommy") told Daddy that there was a lovely mummy and daddy and 3 boys in America who would love to have Becky and Billy live with them and that they had plenty of food to feed them and a lot of love to give them. Even though Daddy in Uganda will be sad he really wants them to live where there is plenty of food and a good life so he will send them to live with their new mummy and daddy.They talked about understanding why daddy wanted them to be able to go to new mummy and daddy in America. They were smiling at this point. They love food.

Then I showed them your pictures and their faces lit up as they recognized you all. They were thrilled. They knew the things they had done with you here like the bike and to the fair with all the kids etc.

You will get to meet the dad and travel down to court with him. It is good to take pictures with him and keep this story and the newspaper article so if in their teens they ask questions you have the things to share with them. We normally send the relative home a different way to how the children travel home from Court.

On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 the best the whole thing was a 10. We even got the model plane out and shared about traveling. We told them there are friends from here that will live close to them so they were happy about that as well.

After the whole thing we laid hands on the picture of you all and prayed for you. They prayed out loud to thank God for Mummy and daddy and their brothers.

Yeah, um that e-mail made me cry.

As you read, I found out that we'll also get to meet their dad in Uganda. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Part of me is encouraged and part of me is scared.

• I'm encouraged because I want to reassure him they will be well loved.
  
• I'm scared however that the conversation will go something like, "I love my kids, but I can't feed them. So, I'm reluctantly gonna give them to you rich people who evidently are better parents than I." I'm sure that's an unjustified fear, but it's still there.

One more thing, we also were told it's good to put up pictures in our home, so we added their pick to a frame on our mantel. Welcome to the berrytribe front room.