Song

I heard this song the other day and I was crying so hard I had to pull the car over

I realize it is talking about a person and Jesus but 

Oh My

did it remind me of the girls....

I played it for one of my family members that is struggling with the adoption....

I think it made a difference in where we are coming from...

I hope.....

So not to be cheesy 

but

This song is for our girls (#1 on playlist)

Update

“A father to the fatherless....God places the lonely in families...” Psalms 68:5,6

To all of our friends and family,

As many of you know we are in the process of adopting from Uganda, Africa. Joe and I have

wanted to adopt since before we had children. Last may I went to Uganda on a mission trip to

Uganda with the River Church. The people of that country touched my heart and changed my

life. The decision to adopt from Africa did not com easily knowing that there would be those who

did not agree or support that decision.

We started our adoption journey in March of this year with our home study. We had decided that we were going to do an independent adoption, meaning that we would not have a placement agency just a lawyer in Uganda. We found out about a lawyer in Uganda and started the contact with them to get the process started. I had known about some of the orphanages from the trip in May and our lawyer also gave us a list of homes that we could contact about a referral of a child. We contacted several orphanages and waited for a response. While we waited we started turning in our paperwork to the lawyer and started to raise funds for the cost of the adoption.

In September we still had not heard from any of the orphanages and my mind was starting to wonder what was going on. A friend of mine emailed me from Uganda telling me about the orphanage that she was getting her daughter from. I contacted the director of the orphanage and waited for a response. We emailed back and forth telling her more about our family and what our hope was for a referral. On September 23 she emailed us and said that she wanted to talk to us about a referral. She said that she had twin girls in her orphanage and wanted to talk to us more about them. A couple of days later we called her at her house in Denver and talked about the girls and where they were in their journey. Joe and I took the next couple of days praying, reading our Bibles and praying some more, if these were the children that God would have for us.

The decision was made that we would pursue these two precious girls. Their names currently are Lori and Claudia and they are about 14 months old. We are not sure when we will be able to go and get our girls and will not have peace about them being able to come home until they are sleeping in their beds at home.

We have been able to do three garage sales and a car wash. We have also applied for three grants through our church and from two other independent agencies. We have been denied one and have not heard back on the other two.

This letter is to not only inform you of what is going on with our adoption but also to let you know that we are a long way from being able to go and get the girls with the current money that we have raised. For international adoptions the average cost for an adoption costs between $15,000 and $35,000. This adoption because we have not hired a placement agency is going to cost about $20,000, this is for both girls. We have said from the beginning that if God has placed it in our hearts to adopt then He will provide what is needed for these girls to become our daughters. We have to have faith and trust in Him that He will provide for us and for these girls. By God’s grace we have been able to raise about $4,000 so far.

There are different ways that you could help out with bringing these girls home.

Prayer- Please pray for the girls that they would stay healthy and safe until we are able to go and get them, that we would be able to raise the money that is needed to be able to bring our girls home, and that God would prepare the hearts of our Kaden and Anna for the upcoming changes in their lives.

Fundraisers- We are continuing to try and think of ways to raise money for the adoption. If you have any ideas we would welcome any ideas.

Financial Support – Will you consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us pay the remaining $16,000 in adoption expenses, to bring our girls home?

Items needed for the girls - We will be in need of clothes and other items that we will be announcing on our blog once we have knowledge of them. (james127durango.blogspot.com)

We appreciate your friendship very much and would like you to pray and consider helping us in our adoption.

Lifesong (www.lifesongfororphans.org) has graciously set up a fundraising account for us to raise funds to help pay the “ransom” to bring our girls home. If you would like to be a part of God bringing Lori and Claudua to Himself through our family, you can send your tax-deductible gift between now and December 26, 2011 to the address below. Lifesong is a trusted organization administering the funds on Lori and Claudia’s behalf, and will pay adoption expenses out of funds received.

1. Please make checks payable to: Lifesong for orphans. Reference: Padgett #2305 adoption.

(Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to the named non-profit organization. This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use.)

2. Mail checks to:

Lifesong for Orphans

Att: Padgett #2305 adoption

PO Box 40/ 202 N Ford Street

Gridley, IL 61744

We will give you updates as we receive them on our blog: james127durango.blogspot.com

In Christ,

Joe, Sara, Kaden and Anna

P.S. I could not add pictures to this version because of being on the internet, if you would like to see pictures I will have to show you them personally.

Ok Lord... What are you up to?...

Hello everyone

There hasn't been a lot happening but wanted to give a quick update on what is going on with the adoption.

I was talking with some friends of ours that are adopting from Uganda....

She was talking about the home that there little girl is at and asked me if I wanted the contact information for them.

At first I thought that I would get the same feeling that I did before...feeling like it wasn't the right thing for us to investigate other homes.

I got the information and was torn whether to write this home or not.

When I started writing the home I got a really peaceful feeling about the home and the fact that I was writing them.

I never know what the Lord is up to and this adoption is no exception.

So..................

We wait on the Lord to see what child he has for our family... and now what home the child will come from. 

I have been leaning on a particular verse that Keven quoted last weekend in his amazing sermon...

"Those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength" 

Isaiah 40:31

and

"I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future"

Jeremiah 29:11

Ok so we heard from our lawyer about how the meeting went. 

 She said that it went "ok". 

 To be honest that ripped me apart. 

 She also said that Barbara didn't remember who we were when they first started talking  about us. Monica also reminded me that we are the last on *anyu's list to get placed with a child.  

Fist it is the family members, then the Ugandans, then the in-country internationals that are waiting  AND then people like us....UGH!! I was brought to tears when I was reading her email. 

I was in pain for the next couple of days after that.  I thought well I guess we need to start sending emails to other babies homes then.  The minute I would start to google I felt like I was going to throw up.  I know in my heart that our baby is at Sanyu!  

After fasting and praying for the last couple of days I feel refreshed about waiting on His timing and renewed about His faithfulness.

Please pray that we stay focused on His promise to us!

*************************************************

Anna Jane has her fist day of school tomorrow and will let you know how it went

She is super excited and fist thought that she was going to be staying the night there until the week was over...

I said "no honey this is not boarding school"...

She is too cute!

I hope that she always loves school this much, but  I know........ya right!

CAR WASH

Thank you!!!! 

to all of you that were able to come and support us at the car wash

We had fun and raised some more money

The public was generous and happy for us

It was a good day and we thank God for the blessings that came in!!!!

The weekend was crazy with the fair going on... 

So in honor of the fair and the car wash....

Well......

I know that many of you saw my post on Facebook that my attorney was meeting with the babies home on monday.

Well.....

I have not heard from my attorney yet 

I have heard that there is a sickness going through the home, so I am thinking the meeting might have been called off.

I will let you guys know any news when I hear something

SLEEP OVER!!!

Joe decided to have a sleep over in Kadens room with the kids.

They love it...

They watch movies and stay-up all night, eat popcorn and snuggle with daddy...

I on the other hand go to sleep while they have daddy time

I am not sure how to turn the picture (oh well)

ooops!!

I have to say that there are times in my life where I wonder "WHAT IN THE WORLD"!!

Well I had one of those moments last week.

Before I show you the pictures of my adventure I am going to tell you how my car ended up the way that it did.

I pulled up to a parking spot not noticing what was around. I pulled out of the parking space and intended to drive out over the spot next to me.

Well.....

There was something in the way of letting me do that......

Here was one side of my car

And here is the other side of my car (with Anna doing her pose)

I was literally stuck between a rock and a hard place.  My car was high-centered on the stump.  

Well I had someone come and help me out.  I was grateful we were not stuck to bad.

I wonder about myself sometimes

CAR WASH!!!

We are still in need of most of the funds for the adoption

So 

We are going to have a CAR WASH!!!

On August 13th (weather permitting) At Peerless Tires!!!

DIRTY CARS LORD!!! DIRTY CARS......

NO CAMERA

Well I haven't posted anything for a while because I wanted to post some new pictures that I took. 

  BUT

I CAN'T find my stinkin' camera cord to download my pictures.

SOOO!!

The pictures were supposed to be of the kids holding the envelope that went to Africa a couple of weeks ago

.

The envelope held the paperwork for the adoption

We sent it off after praying for its protection

and it arrived just three days later in Kampala

SO What now?

Well we have to patiently wait for the babies home to decide if they are going to bless are family with a child.

YIKES!!!

Please pray they will have wisdom with who to choose

We are waiting on pins and needles!!

We are hoping to hear soon so we can schedule to fly to Uganda to volunteer at the babies home.

I know more each day that the Lord is taking care of this whole process.

I know the timing of the flights, the money raising, the child(ren) coming home is in the His hands.

He is an AMAZING GOD!!

If you don't believe me.... well

It is His timing we are just along for the ride.................

AMEN?

GOD is on the MOVE!!

Many of you have asked what is going on with our adoption and I realized I haven't put a update on my blog for a while..... SO.... here we go.....

FIRST:

We had a garage sale..... that went very well and raised some more money for the adoption. Thank you to everyone who donated items to our garage sale!!! And.... to those of you who came and shopped!!

SECOND:

We have heard from a home about coming to volunteer in their home.  Please pray that we will know whether or not that is what God wants us to do.  It would mean that we go there to check out the home and the kids in that home for possible referral.

I know that it seems like it is a given to jump on the first response from any home but we want to make sure that the child God has for us is coming from this home.

Also going to Uganda to volunteer first means that we would go to Uganda two times. First to check out the home and meet the director. And then again after we get a court date we would have to fly back.  We are more than willing to do that if that is what God wants us to do.  We just want to pray and make sure because it is going to cost more money to do that.  But.... believe me when I tell you that it is worth it to us if our treasure is in this home. God is our provider and we believe and trust that he will provide for our family now and for the rest of our lives. (that is a whole other soap box)

THIRD:

Please pray for our family, we are getting verbal attacks about our adoption.  We know we are doing the work of the Kingdom and what God has for our family but it is still hard to hear from people that you love.

Sorry that I have not been blogging more and keeping you guys informed.  I have a lot on my heart and hope to post more often.

The truth is that most of you who read this I talk to on a weekly basis.

Adoption Update

I know it has been a long time since I have posted anything

Well a lot has happened

Fist.... WE GOT OUR HOME STUDY DONE!!!!!!

Thank you Jesus

We finished up our home study a couple of weeks ago

Since then we have been writing to different baby homes in U**nda to see if the can give us a referral for a child.

We sent them off and are not trying to wait patiently for a response


While we are waiting to hear back from them we are still trying to raise money for the cost of the adoption.


                                             ********************************

That is our update in a nutshell.  I know that there are not very many people that read this blog but I am wondering if you readers have a thought on how to handle criticism about something you feel God has called you too.

Our family has been getting a lot of backlash about this adoption (please pray for us)

I know that now all of you are adopting but I am sure there are things that you have gone through in your life that you have gotten grief about.....

How did you handle it...

We want God to be in every part of this adoption, every part of the lives of our children, our future children, our marriage, our business, and our home.  We do not want the enemy to think that he has a place in any of it.  Please pray for a protection over it all, I know the enemy does not like that we are trying to give a forever home to His children.

Uganda

Uganda

I miss you....

I know there is a team there with you now....

Treat them right and be a gentleman to these precious ladies...

As you may have guessed and many, if not all of you know, there is a team that is in Uganda right now. 

They got there safe and have already ministered to the babies. 

 Every time I see a update from someone about the team being there my heart gets a sick feeling because I want to be over there again with everything that is in me. 

My heart aches knowing that my babies are waiting for me. 



Right around the corner from where team is staying and where they go almost every night.



<>

Sanyu




I honestly don't know what it is about Africa that gets under your skin so deeply.... 

 But it has and will always be a part of my heart. 

When I know that I had a chance to go back and I am not there I genuinely feel sick to my stomach.



A picture of where the team is staying



I know that lives will be changed and hearts will be broken for this team that is there now. 

 Thank you Jesus!!!

 I believe that people will not move to make a change unless there hearts are first completely broken. 

 I know that not all of us are meant to adopt, or to go to Uganda but they are meant for a specific purpose. 

Lord please keep the team in Uganda safe......

Lord break our hearts....... teach us what we look like through your eyes.

A Call for Fasting

Dear Friends

I realize that many of you are already followers of  A Place Called Simplicity but on her blog there has

been a call to fast for a precious child on her blog.



Would you join with us in fasting for this child to come home.



You can see some of his story on http://aplacecalledsimplicity.blogspot.com/


The time for fasting is going to be for WEDNESDAY MARCH 30 2011

I believe greatly in fasting, it is hard for me to do because I have a problem with food but  I do it because God sees that heart and if we cry out to Him through fasting and prayer for this boy  I believe He will hear our cry.

Thank you friends

Hello Sara

I have some fun and exciting news to the our adoption journey......

I was driving home yesterday and got a call.......

 I didn't recognize the caller so I answered.....

She said "Hello Sara this is ******* and I am calling because I want to set up your first Home Study visit.

  I was really surprised because we thought we were going to have to wait until our background checks came through.

So..... we are starting our Home Study tomorrow.  Needless to say I stayed up late last night cleaning the house.

My husband said that I was going a little overboard, but I have never done this before and I am not sure how clean our house needs to be. ( I know some of you are laughing, but I don't want to take any chances)

Another step in our journey..... Thank you Jesus

Please also pray for some friends of ours who are really struggling with their adoption.  That God would grant them favor so they can start their Home Study soon.

A Review

I wanted to review our adoption for those of you just coming to our sight.  My name is Sara Padgett and my husband and I have four children.... for those of you who know me are going WHAT????  I am saying we have two children living with us and two children that we are in the process of adoption from Uganda. 

I went with the team from the River Church to Uganda last May and fell in LOVE with the people of Africa and Uganda in particular.  Joe (my husband) and I have been talking about adoption for a long time, but when I saw the need in Uganda my heart leaped with joy that I could do something to help.  We prayed and asked God to show us if we were called to adopt from there or from somewhere else.  Through a series of events we had confirmed that we were supposed to adopt from this country. 

We were then praying for financial need so that we could start the process soon...... and of course the God that we serve did supply the money so that we could start the process.  We have recently started the Home Study process and are now looking to raise the money for the attorney, traveling and in country costs.

We do not yet know the names or faces of these precious children....... what we do know is that we are bringing home two and that there ages are going to be between 0 and 4 years old. We will start the selection process as soon as the Home Study is complete and as soon as we have the attorney fees.  We have currently raised about $5,500.00 and need to raise approximately $15,000.00 more.

I saw all of the posts on A Place Called Simplicity blog and got super excited that there are that many people working on adoptions right now.  We would also love your prayers for the whole process and in particular that you would pray for our children that they would be protected until the time that we can bring them home.


And God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus
Philippians 4:19

PEACE

I have been struggling with whether or not to write this post. Although I know that it would mean you guys knowing personal details about what is going on in my heart, that is not what concerns me.  What concerns me is that the devil would know what is going on in my heart and would use it against me.  After thinking and worrying whether I should post this I came to the conclusion that our God is big enough to handle the enemy and his attacks and that I need prayer for what is going on. 

As all of you know about the adoption I wont go into details about it.  We have been talking about wanting to adopt for years now..... I would say like 5 years.  In all that time we did not have anyone who thought we should not adopt or when we should adopt.  But in the time that we have told people we are going to start the process, there have been concerns about were we are adopting from and the timing of the adoption. Since hearing these concerns we have been asking ourselves whether this is Gods timing and whether it should be the country we have in mind.  We have come to realize all of the confirmations we have received from God the provision He has given and the truth if His word is what we need to focus on.  He is a BIG God and he knows our concerns, our dear loved ones concerns and the provision that is still needed.  I can honestly tell you that I am grieved that there is tension and division between our family and these ones we love.  In telling you all this I am asking you to pray for these situations.  We trust and believe in God and His love for our children, that He wants to bring them home.

There was a worship conference recently at our church that our family attended.  Let me tell it was AMAZING!!! The spirit of the Lord was thick and tangible. During this conference I grieved for this situation, that it would start to get better.  During this time the Lord gave me a verse, and minutes later had it confirmed.

The verse He have me was from 2 Timothy 1:7

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

God had never given me a verse for my circumstances (or ever) before and I burst into tears when it was confirmed. Thank you Jesus for hearing us and for caring enough to talk to us.  I know that God wants to mend this situation and I pray that faiths are also strengthened.  That these ones we love will see Him provide and protect our family for following His voice.

Paperwork!!!

We have spend the better part of a week filling out paperwork to send to our Home Study Agency......

Hours of filling out paperwork...

But we are happy...no super happy....no really happy to say that we sent it on its way today....

I didn't realize there was going to be that much paperwork right away.  I figured there would be a lot all together but.... wow... OK.....  I just have to keep my eye on the reason why we are doing this.....

Here we go!!!

Thanks to our wonderful gover*ment Joe and I are going to be able to start our adoption soon ( and by that I mean our tax return) God has blessed us and we feel like it is the go ahead to start the adoption Home Study.  We still have to get paperwork in and wait for the money to hit our bank account but as soon as we have all of that lined up we can start.  With Joe being out of work right now it is a little scary to not use that money for bills but we are putting all are faith in God right now that He will provide the money that we will need for the bills.

We are still going to put together a couple of fundraisers seeing as how we are still going to need much more than it costs to do a home study.  Right now we are working on doing a garage sale in May.

I will also be putting on a link in case you just want to support the adoption you can donate directly to the adoption fund.

Please pray:

....that God will provide for our bills while Joe is not working
....that our business will start to pick up so Joe can start working
....that the paperwork will go smoothly and we can start soon

Birthday Fun!!!

So it was my birthday yesterday..... 30 years old 

YIKES!!!!

I know it is not that old but I feel like I just graduated from High School a couple of years ago.

I started the day at my house with no gas..... what does that mean....

 I can not do laundry

 I can not do dishes

No Heat (it was 48 degrees in the house)

No hot water for shower

It was a time to remember how blessed we are when we do have all those things.

After the landlord finally got the gas back on my wonderful husband came home and did the dishes for me. 

Then after dinner was over the intern that is living with us put the dishes away and did the dinner dishes.

I couldn't have asked for a better present than to not have to do the dishes for a night. 

It really makes me realize how much I would LOOOOOOVVVVEEE to have a maid service.


I don't know what to think about being thirty.  I know I will get used to it but it just feels weird to say.

I will take your junk!!!

HERE IT IS......  THE FIRST FUNDRAISER.......FOR THE ADOPTION

We are going to holding a yard sale in May (hopefully... according to the groundhog) and are going to start

collecting items for it. 

 If you have anything you want to get rid of and would like to help raise money for our

adoption that would just be wonderful.

 Please get a hold of me and will will figure out what to do with it depending on the size. 

AND if you dont have anything to donate thats ok cause that means you need some stuff (LOL)

 

and I will let you know what date we are going to be holding the sale and where.  SO....  spread the

word......tell your friends.....

I Love this

I know it has been a long time since I have posted anything on here. And to be honest I really don't having anything new to report. I found this picture posted to one of my friends blogs that is ahead of us in the adoption process from Uganda and just love the picture. 

                              When ever people ask if we are going to have more kids


                                              I say, ya we are pregnant right now.....


                                               
                                                   You might be saying WHAT???




                              Ok just look at the picture and you will see what I mean.