I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane...... Going to get G man!

Yes, we leave in less than a month! We will leave on September the 10th to go to Uganda to get our baby. I can't believe it is here! I really didn't think our court date would come this fast. Today I have been in a daze. It feels like the day we got our referral, I am literally so excited I don't know what to do. Finally, the day I get to hold my child is within my grasp. I have been dreaming about this for so long. This morning I got up and pleaded with God to get us to Africa soon. I had no idea I would check my email and would already have a date!

So this is what will happen. We will go to Africa and meet G and spend about 5 days just getting to know him and bonding with him. He will probably get to stay with us at our hotel. We will probably play with the other children at the orphanage and hopefully site see. We want to get a good feel of Uganda and plenty of pictures for G to look at when he gets bigger. We will then go to court on the 17th of September. The Judge will have all our paperwork and witness reports and he will look through them and also look at how we have bonded with the child. We will come back within a few days to the court ruling. Since Jeff has 2 jobs, he will leave after court and my mom and I will stay behind with G. After the ruling mom and I will stay for who knows how long. It could be 2 weeks it could be 2 months. We will be waiting for the government to get his visa so we can take him to his embassy appointment. After we go to his embassy appointment we can then bring him home.

We appreciate your prayers during this whole process. Please continue to pray that travel and court goes well. We still have a lot to go through before we get to bring G home.

Alicia

Happy 7 Months G man!

G,

Today is your 7 Month birthday. Your dad and I bought you your first few little outfits yesterday. Dad picked out a spiderman shirt for you. We are so excited to meet you. We wish we had been there the first 7 months of your life, but we promise we are coming to get you soon. The past 2 months of waiting have been the longest of our lives. We think about you all day everyday. I wonder what you are learning to do. They told us you smile all the time and that you are very interested in all the other children in the orphanage. I wonder if the kids play with you and teach you things. I wonder what it is like to be the youngest of 27 children. So many things I can't wait to find out for myself. Dad mainly thinks of ways he can fix your hair. He wants you to have a cool hairdo, so I'm sure some of his students will be coming over trying to braid your hair or do something crazy with it.

Since we saw your picture that day 2 months ago we have been getting ready for your arrival. Last week we put your bed together and started getting your room ready. It is going to be so great. Your Daisy got me a rocking chair to rock you in at night. Sometimes I just sit in your room imagining you being here. I can't wait. But I mostly can't wait for you to meet your family. They are all so excited to know you. Your cousins ask me all the time when they get to meet their baby cousin. You will have 7 boy cousins and one sweet girl cousin. When we get to Africa I will show you pictures of your family. There are so many people who love you already. I wonder what you are going to think of Saint. He is our 110 pound German Shepherd, but he is just a big baby. He loves and watches over your little cousins so I know he will love you too. He will probably lick your face all the time and when you get here we will probably have a little German Shepherd puppy for you to play with. So many big changes, but I know you will do great. Me and you will get through it together.

We love you little G man. We are coming to get you as soon as we can. I hope maybe you are getting a little extra love today as you turn 7 months. I know you have some very sweet ladies who love you and have been taking care of you since you were tiny. I'm so thankful for them. They have done what I couldn't do.  Hopefully this week will find out when we get to come get you.

Love you,
Mommy

Waiting Children

So, for some reason God gave us G, he won't even be a year old when he gets here. We will get to experience a lot of the fun baby things we never thought we would experience. We were expecting a 3,4 or 5 year old but for some reason G came up and he was matched with us. The lady who found him said, "he must be a miracle from God". I think he is our miracle. But my overactive brain and bleeding heart have been consumed with all these older waiting children in orphanages all over the world. You see, when people adopt they usually ask for babies. So babies get adopted and older children stay living in the orphanage. They don't get the chance of a loving home because of their age.

I am already preparing myself for this when we get to Uganda. I'm going to get to know these children and want to bring them all home, and after spending possibly months with these children my heart is going to break having to say goodbye. Jeff and I know G will not be our only adoption, we aren't sure yet where God will lead next, it could be foster adoption or another international adoption but we both want to save as many as we can (or at least I do), sometimes I think Jeff thinks I'm a little crazy. But he also refuses to look at the waiting children from our agency because he knows he would want to adopt them all too. I know God is convicting me to adopt older children, perhaps an older sibling group one day. But for now, G has to be my main focus. He deserves my commitment to him and him only for a little while.

I have been so encouraged to see so many friends adopting. God has really put it on the hearts of so many people in the past few years. The southern baptist convention is really emphasizing adoption and foster care. If you are reading this blog you are probably wanting to keep up with G and his arrival. I am thankful for that. I love having so many people going along with me and encouraging me on this journey. Adoption is not for the faint at heart. We still covet your prayers as we get our court date and go to court. There are a lot of hurdles to jump over before G gets to come home.

But today I am asking for you to commit to pray for all the children in orphanages all over the world who are waiting. Older children who are usually not desirable to adoptive parents. Maybe you can pray and ask God to lead you to pray for a specific area of the world. As you probably know American has tons of children in foster care needing homes and Africa has children on the streets with nothing to eat and the Ukraine has children sitting in cold orphanages where they get no love or care from anyone and China has a major need for adoptions for special needs children. The list goes on and on.

God is very clear in scripture that we are to care for the widow, the orphan, and the stranger. So I ask you to pray about what you can do to minister to orphans. You can simply pray that these older children find loving homes. You can search your heart and ask God to reveal if he is leading you to adopt an older waiting child. I promise, God does amazing things with your heart. Five years ago I would have told you I didn't think I could love a child that wasn't my biological child enough to adopt them and now I want to save every kid I can.

My good friend Terah wrote a great post on the Foster care system in America- please check it out- http://terahsampler.wordpress.com/2012/07/24/youre-so-vain-you-probably-think-this-blog-is-about-you/

Also, some good friends wrote a book on how you and your church can get involved with helping orphans. The book is called Orphanology by Rick Morton and Tony Merida.

Bethany Christian Services also has lots of cool ways to help orphans in the U.S. and across the globe.

-Alicia-

G Update

So the past few weeks have been really busy with the church so I haven't been able to update.

         We have a couple of updates for the month of July. A few weeks ago while Jeff and I were at youth camp I got a few calls from our social worker while we were out on ministry site. I wish I could explain to you the panic that comes over when it seems like something could be wrong. I am already freaked out that somehow we won't get G. So I called her back as soon as I got to my phone and she says that G has been in the hospital and they think he has Asthma. If you know the Montgomery family you know how funny this is. We are a family of Asthmatics. Me and my brothers have it, my cousins and now my nephews. So when she tells me, I just laughed and said, "Well he must be my son!" Later on we found out he had a severe case of pneumonia and was wheezing a lot. But he is back in the orphanage and they assured me he is better. The same week we also got an assesment with new pictures. This was a really good encouragement after hearing that he had been sick. When I first saw his pictures It looked like a different baby. He has gained 7 lbs since May and is so bright eyed! He looks like a happy healthy six month old! They said he smiles all the time and has started to really interact with the other kids and caretakers. He is improving faster than I would have ever dreamed. I can't tell you how thankful I am for his caretakers. It seems like they love on him and care for him as much as they can. It is such a blessing that it is a christian orphanage with sweet ladies who really love the children. So, G is a growing healthy boy. 

         Also, our case was filed with the court today. The courts are still closed until August 15th but this just means our case is in the waiting line for a court date. This was big for us, its the last step until they give us a court date. But we have hit a little snag. I don't want to give all the details but the main thing is we have to have witnesses that were there when G was found and one of ours isn't cooperating so I ask that you pray that she will so that things can move on smoothly.

      I feel like God has continued to give Jeff and I this strong heart for the orphan. We watched these videos at camp about the kids in Africa and we both left ready to move over there and him teach pastors and me be a nurse. So who knows one day we might just be over there with 15 kids living our dream!

Pray the rest of the court proceedings go smoothly and that the court date will come sooner than later and also that G stays healthy living with so many children and already being sick.

And I wrote a letter to G in my last post check it out if you want!

Oh and we are putting a baby bed together this week! Yay!

To My Sweet Baby G

This last Sunday I had a baby shower.  To say the least we have been blessed. Friends and family came and showered me with gifts and love. Then they prayed over me for our trip and for Baby G. My mom said something in her prayer and it just hit me so hard, she asked God to bless this baby who doesn't even know he has been rescued. So I started thinking, what do I want my child to know and understand about his rescue? This is it

Dear Sweet Baby,
You don't even know we exist. You are living in an orphanage just trying to survive each day. You have already survived against all odds. You don't know a mothers love or a fathers protection. You have been all alone in this world since you were born. To some you are just a poor African child who was abandoned on the street. But to us, you are our son. You are the one God chose to be ours. We choose YOU despite your circumstances and your background. We already have this deep love for you and we have never even held you. You are going from a life of neglect to a life full of love and commitment all because we choose you to be our son. We don't care what physical or emotional issues you may come with, we already love you unconditionally. My prayer for you is that you come to understand that our love for you is a small fraction of the love God has for you. Just like you, we were orphans but God chose to send his son to save us. God chose us, with our sin and all our baggage he chose to die for us just so that we could be called his children. Don't you understand? Your parents are not these people who should be commended for rescuing an orphan child. No, your parents were lost sinners who were saved by Gods grace through Christ's death on the cross. We deserve punishment for our sins, a life out of the presence of God. But instead we get a relationship with Christ, a life where he gives us a purpose and a plan for our lives. And guess what? YOU were a part of that plan. God CHOSE you to be our son before we even knew it.

So, no you aren't  an orphan. You never were. God knew your parents. He had already chosen you to be ours. You are undeserving like us, but God loves you and has a plan for your life. My prayer is that you always know you aren't an orphan. You are a child of God first and our child second.

Fear

It has been a few weeks since we found out we were getting a baby boy. It is still so surreal. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. For someone to call and say, "Just Kidding Alicia! You should have known things don't come easy for you!" I know that is just my own doubt and fears getting in the way. My middle name should be doubter. I have been a doubter my whole life. So, God is teaching me to TRUST him. My mind believes that God has a plan for my life, that this deep desire to rescue orphans is from him. I know he is sufficient to provide my needs and the needs of baby G.

You are probably thinking, this girl is crazy. She has this incredible baby boy waiting on her in Africa and all she can do is worry that somehow she won't get him. I know I am. I go from being so excited I literally can't stand it, to thinking through scenarios where the judge reads my information and decides someone with a disease isn't fit to be a mother. And again, God says trust me! My social worker is awesome, when I vocalize my fears to her she just dismisses them and says, "It is in Gods hands Alicia!" My poor sister Laura has been a constant encouragement to me. I don't know what I would do without these Godly people in my life, to remind me to snap out of it.

So, despite my crazy doubts, Jeff and I went and registered for some baby stuff today. I have a shower next week at home in Louisiana. It was so much fun. I have gone through 8 births of nephews and a niece and each time I have been overjoyed to welcome this new addition into our family. But it was so much fun to be planning for MY sweet baby G. He isn't going to know what hit him when he gets home. So much love from an enormous family and lots of sweet ladies at church who are already calling him their grandson.

Since I last updated, we found out the Ugandan Courts close from July 15 to August 15th. My agency is working hard to get us in before then but I seriously doubt that will happen. So right now we are thinking sometime quickly after the courts open back up.

I ask that you continue to pray for the things I asked in my last post.

Just to confirm to you that I am crazy, I am already starting to plan our next adoption. Crazy right? My hearts desire is to have a house full of children from different nations (including the U.S.). To me it is such a beautiful picture. I pray that God provides for the desires of my heart.

Alicia

WE HAVE A BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, it is true. The day I posted online that we were in the "waiting" period, I got a call from my social worker about a baby that was up for adoption in Uganda. I had completely written off the possibility of having a baby. I was expecting a 2 or 3 year old. I don't know that I have ever been more overwhelmed with emotion than the moment I saw a picture of my son. I was "freaking out", for about 3 days and I'm still so excited I don't know what to do with myself. It just feels like he is mine. I know I didn't grow him in my belly, but the love I already feel for this baby is so deep. The love both of our parents feel for this baby that we have only seen in photos is amazing. He is 5 months old. So right now we are waiting for our documents to be sent to Uganda and for them to give us a court date. I will give more specific information on our baby when we get our court date. For now we will call him Baby G.

Here are some specific things you can pray for:

1.)Smooth process of the courts looking at our stuff and giving us a court date.
2)That we do not get this particular Judge who will not rule in favor of an intercountry adoption. He only rules in favor of adoptions to take place with people who live in Uganda.
3)Finances- we are already being hit with some big fees and it is only going to get worse as we get closer to travel. We know God can provide for our needs.
4.) Pray for Baby G, and the ladies who care for him at his orphanage. Pray that his malnourishment has no lasting effects physically and mentally.
5.) Pray for us as we wait. I feel like all of my thoughts all day are about Baby G. I know it is only going to get harder as our love for him grows. As a mom, I just want to be there making sure he is well taken care of and loved on.

We know God has his hand in this, most people wait for months and months until they get a referral. We got one the day we started waiting. God is already blessing us and we are so thankful. We are also thankful for your prayers! We will need them even more as time progresses.

Did I mention, I'm a MOM!!!!!! Yes, I'm still freaking out!