Heading Home

We packed our bags and loaded the van and we said goodbye to the boys today. Hunter just cried and Adam wasn't gonna have any thing to do with being put down. They both cried for a bit. I took a few pictures of the crying just to document it. I successfully filled a card today. 2 gigs of pictures and video. I am just hoping its enough for my loving wife who would love so much to see Hunter and be here.

We headed out with Ditte and Abby Sweeney and baby Claire to Kampala to meet again with the attorney to sign papers. While there we learned that our spouses will need to sign forms and FedEx them back here once we get home before we can file for a court date. It looks like we will get court dates closer together than we were told last week. We thought the court dates would need to be spaced about 5 weeks apart but it looks like it will be more like 2 or 3 weeks at this point. It doesn't look like any of us will get to come to Uganda together again for this process.

We were dropped off at the Hurley's in Makono on the way back to Jinja. We said our goodbyes to Ditte who had been faithfully coordinating the adoption process as well as to Abby Sweeney and Baby Claire who still have about a week left before they head back. Danielle made a great dinner (apparently Danielle never cooks for less then 13 people here in the Hurley home.) It was a tasty pumpkin soup with a really good chocolate creme brûlée. Shannon will be driving us to the airport in Entebbe at 5am.

He excited I am to see my wife and my girls.

A Family's First Visit

During a family's first visit, they must meet with Mr. Opio in the Jinja probation office to apply for foster custody. At the same time, ask him to sign the introduction letter required by Mr. Otim.
On Friday we walked with Ditte and Mama Agatha to meet Mr. Opio. He was in a meeting when we arrived at 4:30pm. We sat down in the sun and waited. He left his cell phone plugged into an outlet and it started ringing so that he left his meeting to answer it. When he saw us he said something about us making him late but that he would be about 10 more minutes. At 5:15pm he called us into his office with concrete floors a few chairs, two tables, lots of papers and some long ago broken windows. He asked some questions about why we were there. He looked over our paperwork asking questions about Angels Haven. He tried to sound serious when he said that he was planning a trip out to America to check out the organization and visit the families where these babies are living in California. We told him that it was a great idea; a very good excuse to come to America.
He asked Aaron if he was happily married. To which Aaron answered yes. He asked if Aaron was shopping for more wives and pointed to my weddng ring and said, "he is wearing his noose and I am wearing my noose where is yours?" Aaron explained something about machinery and I said that it wouldn't be very wise to look for other women when your wife's brother is traveling with you. Mr. Opio said,"So, he us under your supervision?" I said, "Oh, Yes. He is under my supervision."
With that he said that he would sign the letters on Monday when we brought them back.

Ditte is heading over there in a little while to do that.

Tomorrow we will head to Kampala to meet with Nicolas Opyio (the lawyer used by Amani)

Uganda

I have had a number of days to play with my boy Hunter. He is a pretty happy little boy. He always has an eye out for CoCo (chickens). He as well as the other children eat a ton. Here the kids portion of a meal is a full plate of food. We looked through the picture book that Yetta sent a while back. He pointing at Yetta's picture when I asked him, "Where is Mama?" He repeated Mama and Dada and Abby but Fiona is a little more of a challange for him.

It's been a cool and rainy time these last few days. It has kept the temp wonderful. Aaron and I spent our first night in the appartment upstairs above the babies. It was the best night so far. It coats less than any of the hotels and is so much more convenient to be right here.

It is exciting that Adam has been doing great with Aaron. Yesterday he wanted Aaron to hold him and didn't want to be put down. If I can get pictures to upload I have a couple of Aaron holding Adam while running around and playing soccer with John the security guard.