About this time Michael, our then 22 year old, felt led to go to Uganda and do some missionary work. I helped him schedule some services to raise needed funds, and we actually did some services together. He would tease (so we thought) as he presented something to the effect of, "I think I might bring back Mom and Dad a little African boy so he can make my little dark skinned sister feel more at home." We had no idea how prophetic his jest was.
Well, Michael raised his needed funds and flew to Uganda. Communication was limited, but he had some access to Skype. He pretty much immediately began Skyping about a 3 year old child he met in the orphanage that had stolen his heart. This little boy was named Emma and had been found abandoned on the streets of Uganda at about a year old. He had no identification, birth certificate or anything to tie him to any family.
Uganda is one of the poorest nations in the world. The average Income is about $2 a day or less...for those fortunate enough to find employment. For a country with a population of thirty million, there is reported to be over ten million orphans, the highest concentration of orphaned children in the world.. In reality i believe they use that term rather loosely. Many of these children are not orphaned in the truest sense. Their parents are simply too poor to raise them, so they abandon them on the streets hoping someone with better means will come along and rescue them. Subsequently there is a high infant mortality rate. As best we could figure, even in the orphanage these children were only being fed once a day a meal of maybe beans and/or rice. The average life expectancy in Uganda is about forty years of age.
Anyway, Emma was evidently one of these children. The police and the orphanage both did a search for family members to no avail.. Nobody knows what his first year and a half was like. He was no doubt traumatized though. He had night terrors even after we brought him home. When he was first taken in by the orphanage he was very sickly and malnourished. They nourished and cared for him to decent health though.
Well, we ended up deciding to contact Wilfred, the orphanage director, about the possibility of adoption. I am seriously not sure what overcome us. I do not recall a revelation moment like we had with Hannah. We just did it. We seriously had no idea what we were getting into, but we just knew we should do it. The director said he was clear for adoption, so we jumped in head over heals.
I could only wish it were that simple, but it wasn't. I stand corrected in my earlier statement equaling Hannah's adoption to it in complication. We decided to adopt directly from the orphanage in order to save money and time. It did save money and maybe saved time, but I would not recommend that approach to anybody. We were totally at the hands of the nationals. They were awesome, but there was most definitely a cultural and communication gap between us that was difficult to forge at times..
Like no other adoption, this adoption was most definitely a process. We had the legal aspect to take care of, both in the US and Uganda, eventually securing a lawyer in both locations. We had to have another home study done. We needed shots before making the trip over. That would cost several hundred dollars each by the way. We both needed passports. We also needed to purchase airfare for the trip over and back for both of us and the the child. We could not purchase airfare in advance though. The courts would eventually make a decision and give us just a few days notice before we had to be there.. Anyway, we had to figure on about $2,500 each for airfare. We figured a total expense of in the neighborhood of $15,000. That figure was most definitely conservative.
I mention the money because we were broke. We had no savings and no available credit. We knew though, if God was in it, he would provide for it. We would basically have to rely on Him and donations.
Oh, did I mention what my wife did? She went to church on a Wednesday night and requested prayer for needed funds. After the service a young lady approached her and said she had always wanted to adopt a child from Africa. It was Sarah Myers daughter of career African missionaries, Darrell and Lyla Nichols. I don't recall Kim asking my opinion, but she volunteered to bring them on board. I seriously jest. I cannot imagine this endeavor without the Myers at our side!
We called Wilfred and shared Jacob and Sarah's story. He was excited and knew of just the child for them. Ephraim was about two with a very similar story to Emma's.
Did I mention The Myers were in the ministry as well and pretty much living from paycheck to paycheck. Now the total funds needed was about $30,000 and we had about 6-8 months to raise it. We shared our story with our church family and friends, and I plugged the need from church to church around Oklahoma for the next several months..
You know, God provided exactly what we needed when we needed it. It seems the money was never there early. We would see the need, sometimes panic, always pray, and then he would provide. He did that for us right up to the very last moment.
We started this whole process in about March of 2010. We were told by our Ugandan lawyer we could figure on going over to get the boys some time around the following winter. We plugged along taking care of one need at a time until about November, when we received a warning call, informing us that we would be called over for our first hearing within the next 2-3 weeks. To be quite honest with you, this pushed our panic buttons. God had provided what we needed when we needed it all along, but at this point we were broke. We needed about $15,000 and we needed it quick. If they set up our hearing and we didn't have the money to fly over, we would very likely lose our boys...
To be continued...
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