THE UPDATE FROM AFRICA

We made it and we have officially met our kids.

• THANK YOU to all of you who have been and continue to pray for us.
• THANK YOU for your kind notes and comments.
• THANK YOU to all of those who have supported us financially in a mutual sacrifice we are making together.
• WE could not do this without the investment of all 3 groups above. THANK YOU.

By way of an update, I'll be brief but try and be thorough. We've been asked not to post pictures of our process while in Africa. In addition, dates, times, names and locations will be left out of the posts for the sake of the process in the next month. Here's the highlights, minus those details thus far:

LEAVING HOME. We left our boys in the care of my Dad for the first few weeks and then Shannon's Mom the last few weeks. Before we left, we did one final order of business. We took our last all white family pic. (minus Zeus ofcourse)

SPEAKING OF PICTURES: you can find a beginning picture set on my facebook, but it's limited in viewing capacty to "my friend list". If you want them and don't have facebook, you can either open an account and click the link on the side of this page and then add me as a friend or you can wait for a month and I'll post them here when we get back in the states.

BERRYTRIBE OVERHAUL. Shannon and I have been calling our family the Berrytribe ever since we used that as our first e-mail address. Never did I realize it would be foreshadowing for the future. Our family is distinctly more tribal as we adopt two kids from a Literal African Tribal community. Too funny and so much fun. Meeting our kids has been crazy scary too. I think all 4 of us are just trying to figure it out and start living like the family we feel confident that God is calling us to be.

THE SYSTEM: We are at the mercy of the courts, judges, and people in power regarding our formal process. We have to meet with a judge, then wait a few days for their ruling, then have the ruling filed, then go the the US Embassy and get our passports and visas for the kids along with a special letter signed. Keep praying that this process is not delayed anymore than it already has been. We are still on track for an ontime departure, but we received a 10 day delay right off the bat on arrival day one. Conseqently, we can't afford a second one of those. So, pray that the system's wheels are well greased so we can bring these precious kids home.

MEETING DAD: We met the kid's biological Dad who has been brought in from 8 hours North for the trial portion of this process. Mom is not around and abondoned the kids and their dad at birth. It's a long story we're trying to learn for ourselves which deserves a whole post in the future once I get all the facts sorted out. It is by far the weirdest part of this process. We have no judgement to cast and pray that the view from this side of heaven is one of unity and partnership with God, not failure and condemnation. We are here to help these kids grow up into God's design according to His Will and in a way, we are partnering with their Dad to do this. That is a complicated emotional, physical, and spiritual process. Keep praying.

LESSONS IN LANGUAGE: We have begun learning a little bit of their language and teaching them some of ours. Here's the highlights

• thank you = Webale (wehbaley)
• I love you very much = nkwagala nnyo (enkwahgalah enyo)
• come here = jangu wano (yangoo wahno)
• and my first phrase I taught my girl: When I ask, "Who's little girl are you?" The answer is, "Daddy's" She's already got it down just 1 1/2 days into it. That's my girl. She gives me kisses too!