Update on Allan

This is a hard blog update to post. We have recently learned that some of the things we had sent money to Jamil for have not been done. Mainly the acquisition of a visa. We have not heard from him in a week and are suspecting the worst. It's been very hard to deal with and our hearts are just broken. We're confident of God's provisions and want to learn from this experience. We continue to seek his will for our lives and Allan's.

Within the last three weeks we have made contact with three different individuals in Kampala that are very reputable and we hope to secure further information about Allan through them. We are so thankful for the amount of prayer support and encouraging words we've received during the last four months. It's made this journey very special to us to see people open their hearts to a little boy they've never seen or met.

We will continue to post any news we receive about him and hope to have encouraging words soon.

Spring Break

I have the most wonderful husband in the whole wide world! Although, I'd venture to say, I don't tell him that nearly enough. He took all four of the children home to Pennsylvania for their spring break and gave me a much needed week off. I had a great time at home, and didn't do a single load of laundry all week! He begins working on his doctorate this June at Austin Theological Seminary and will be gone for two weeks so he thought it was time for me to have some quiet time. Heavenly, just heavenly!

Below are just some of the pictures of the kids adventures. Max and Ben asked several times to go to DC so Mark and his dad squeezed that in and the boys had a great time! Mark's brother Matt had special tickets to an event at Camden Yards to see the Orioles before opening day and the boys collected a slew of autographs along with some special goodies.

It's back to business now that they're home.It's not a quiet house anymore, but that's alright. I missed them a lot!


Biker girl with Uncle Joe.

The boys in front of the Washington Monument.

Max, Mark and Ben in front of the World War II Monument.

The three cutest boys in the whole wide world at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

Cherry Blossoms in full bloom.

An 11 Year Old in the House

Max turned 11 last Friday! Hard to believe he's grown so quickly but he's a fine young man. Very polite, kind, smart and obviously handsome! We're very proud of him


Mark Thomas is officially a Red Raider now! He had his first game this past Saturday and did awesome! He plays coach pitch and each time he was up to bat he hit it out into the outfield. One would have been a home run, but the players on second and third didn't realize what was going on and therefore didn't run fast enough or at all so MT was left with a single. He sure looks cute on the field.


Ben is the first person in this house to experiment with his hair. Unless you count Mark in his younger, wilder days! We're on the fence about it, but Ben says it's because it's in the middle right now. Guess the verdict is still out.

Sneak Peak

This is just a little sneak peak into our renovations that have been going on. We're on the homestretch now, FINALLY! Max is so ready to be in his new space and hopefully have a permanent roommate soon too! I finished painting about two weeks ago and my Dad and I spent all last weekend laying the tile floor. Mark finished one of the closets today and we have only one more to do. We're on to the grouting tomorrow and then it'll be time to move things in. Check back later for photos of the completed room!

Thank you Laura

My wonderful neighbor, Laura, posted this video on her blog for us and watching it just meant so much. What Sara says in her song is so true. Once you see something, something that you might never have expected to see, you simply can't erase it from your mind.

We started this journey with faith and believe in our trust in Jamil. Even though we've faced some serious doubt and we've been challenged, we're choosing to remain faithful and hope that through the prayers of many, many people we will see God's desires come to fruition. We have faith that Allan will soon be with us.

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

Ella's first major hair cut

Ella has been asking me to get her hair cut for weeks now. I finally called my friend, Jennifer, who cuts my hair. Ella was dying for it to be cut before Mimi made it to town on Friday so of course Jennifer said "come on over". It's absolutely adorable! I can't believe we waited so long to actually cut it. She had quite an audience today at church and she had a new dress and shoes to go with her new "do" courtesy of Mimi and Papa.