Mark very quickly reminded me today that I did not include our newest family member in our blog. Shortly after we moved here, I began to get pressured to get a dog. Well, to say that I was greatly outnumbered doesn't really do justice to the pressure I received so I relented. I took the kids across town to look at this puppy, without Mark knowing and of course we didn't leave the house without her. On the way home the kids named her Shiloh. Mark was stunned when we pulled up in the drive way. I had called him to say that I had some extra grocery bags I needed help carrying in, so when Max got out of the car holding Shiloh, he just melted. "Who's a cute puppy?!" he kept saying. I had totally lost my mind. 
And...another reason I had wanted to create this blog was to keep everyone informed of a rather large event that could be taking place in our home. In October we had the amazing opportunity of hosting three orphaned children from Uganda, along with their chaperone, Jamil, also from Uganda, in our home for 4 days. It completely changed our lives. Made us so much more aware of how many things we take for granted, the luxury we have as being citizens of the United States and the ability we might have to help even one child.
Allan is 13 and as you can see very similar in size to Max. Ben is bending down, so is not really that much shorter than Max. Just in case you were about to be shocked at how tall Max is, although at 10 he's 5' 2". Totally different topic for just a second but at Max's last parent teacher conference, with Mrs. Johnson, who happens to live right across the street from us, she says, "Alright, we have a problem." I braced myself but at the same time thought, "am I in the right room, this is not Mark Thomas's teacher, it's Max's." Then Mrs. Johnson says, "All the girls are in love with Max, what can you do about it? They want to sit by him, they want to talk to him and they want to touch him." I freaked and said, "they want to touch him" and she said, "not like that!" We both just laughed. It appeared at that point that Max had settled into school with an admiring flock of 5th grade girls. What can I say, he's a rather handsome boy and equally as intelligent! Not that I'm biased or anything.
In all Mark's and my years of marriage we had never been so quickly on the same page, ever. We both knew that first night the boys were in our home that if God would allow us to help, in whatever way that might present itself, we would be faithful to follow. So we are ambarking on that journey. At this point we are trying to gain temporary legal guardianship of Allan so he can come back to the states and live with us while he attends school. He has lost both of his parents to the aids epidemic that has ravaged so much of Uganda. He has an uncle that has gladly given his permission for Allan to live with us and when Jamil told him of our desire to have him return, he simply cried and told Jamil he would pray for our family always. Allan now knows of our intent as well and when I emailed Jamil yesterday to see if Allan was nervous he said quite the contrary, that Allan was "so very happy aunt" that's what they call us, aunt and uncle, to know that he might very soon be coming back.
He instantly felt like a member of our family. He's a very smart, kind, gentle soul with a world behind his eyes. We can only imagine what he's been through in his 13 years. Our hope is that he'll be able to come back soon, he'll readily adapt to our home and be able to pursue the plans God has for him in life. We're confident he's destined for great things and if simply being here in our country where he can study and be a part of our family, as crazy as it may be, will give him that opportunity then we're game.
We are not a wealthy family and our desires are not for luxury, we live in a wonderful home that God has provided for us that meets our needs just fine. We constantly try to fight the consumerism that grips our country and hope that our children know what's really important. Family and our love for Christ. They're excited about Allan possibly coming, but understand it will mean we'll buckle down some more.
We'd covet your prayers. This is huge! No small undertaking. Lots of paperwork and governmental issues. A long list of questions and concerns, we do not yet have answers to, but we are confident that this is the path God has called us to right now, in this very moment, and until he shows us otherwise, we're walking right along with Him. We'll keep you posted.
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