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.



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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.

To my little princess

To my beautiful daughter I wish you a happy birthday.  Four years ago I couldn't believe how lucky I was to have such a blessing given to me.

You are healthy

You are beautiful

You are full of love and laughter

You are a light in a dark world

I pray for you and your future, that you would grow to know the love of God.  That he would be your daddy in a very real and special way.  That this world would not have a hold on you but that you would see the world through Gods eyes.  That you will find what God gave you a passion for and live that life without worry of what the world thinks.  That you are blessed with peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, love, self-control, joy, goodness and a long life.




My angel and me



My beauty queen trying not to smile



She was posing on purpose (so cute)



camp hair!!!



random thoughts

We have been so blessed by people interested in supporting our adoption.  I want to thank all of you who are supporting us. I am going to add jewelry to my etsy sight in the next couple of days so that those of you who would like to do some Christmas shopping can look at what I have.  There is another group from our church going to Uganda soon and I must say that I am totally jealous that I am not able to go this time.  I am hoping and praying that God allows me to go again soon.  Also I want my husband to go so that he can see first hand the heart and the love of the people of Uganda. 

Also there is a update for those of you who were keeping an eye out for my daughters precious Ducky (stuffed animal) WE FOUND IT!!! And by we I mean Anna found it.  It was at Mops, a group for women who have preschoolers.  It was apparently in the puppet box.  I was so excited to see that silly guy, it was driving me crazy were on earth he could have gone. 

I know that I have somewhat boring posting because of the lack of pictures. I am still mastering the camera, downloading, posting them thing.  I will work on that for my wonderful followers.

Here is a picture from the Pictures part of my computer (LOL) just for you!!

Patience for the journey.....

I have to admit that growing up I loved winter because that meant that the holidays were coming up and I LOVE the holidays.  Unfortunately I am not looking forward to this winter at all. I am still looking forward to the holidays but because our business slows down to nothing means that we have hardly any money coming in.  Pastor talked about miracles this Sunday and I have to admit that it is going to have to be a God thing to get us through the winter this year.  I am not writing this to get any pity or anything else. I am hoping to be able to look back on this post and have it be a answer to prayer that God did get us through the winter and then some. 

There is a update on the adoption, we are still trying to raise money for the adoption to get started. The update however is the burden I feel with how family members are handling the fact that we are going to adopt from Uganda.  They say they are ok with it but I can tell from the comments that they think we are making a stupid decision to bring children home from a different country, especially Africa.  I know that I shouldn't care what they think but because it is family it makes me mad and scared.  I don't want our kids to come from a hardship of poverty, death and loss to a new family of unloving, uncaring, complacent people in their lives.  I am scared that I will loose these people in my life because we are choosing to adopt from Africa.  In the end I dont want to go against what I feel like God is calling us to do.  I feel with all my heart that this is just the beginning of adopting for us.

Please pray for peace and wisdom

MY PRAYER:  Thank you Jesus for all you do for us, I know we dont understand your path and I pray that you give us patience for the journey.

Thank you for all of you that have been praying for us. I know we have a good support system through our friends and I thank God for every one of you.

Thank you Jesus

One more orphan has a home!!!! One of the ladies that went with our team to Uganda this past May decided to adopt a baby girl from there.  She is currently in Uganda and picking up her little one.  Her blog is Chosen Ones if you want to see the pictures of her smiling baby girl.

The children that are in these orphanages don't smile that much, and so to see her smiling brought tears to my eyes.

She is hoping to bring her home the first part of November, so please from that the court process goes smoothly and that Leah (babies name) adapts to her new family smoothly.

A quick update for our adoption: We have contacted a lawyer in Uganda and waiting to here if she is going to take our case.  Incidentally she is the same lawyer that Abi Q and our friend that is in Uganda now is using.

We have started to find some organizations that might be able to help us with the financial side of it and now we are praying we get approved for that.

Funny Story

Anna J. was taking a tubby the other day and she starts singing a song.  I realized that she was repeating words to a worship song that I had been playing in the car earlier that day.  I love her sweet spirit and love seeing seeds being planted in her soul. Makes your wonder what else they are soaking up that you do and don't want them to. 

The little things

It is amazing when something huge and scary happens everything else just doesn't matter.  Today we had a scare with Kaden.  It is a story that I am happy to say ended with a happy ending.

The kids and I were at the church and they were playing in the courtyard.  I hadn't seen Kaden for a while and asked the kids were he was.  One of them said that they had seen him walking toward the open gate heading to the parking lot.  With that news I stood up and started to head toward the parking lot to find him.  I went around the building and couldn't find him, all the while calling his name.  I started to head the other direction to see if he went toward the street, by this time I am completely freaking out.  I am calling his name like a crazy lady and balling my eyes out.  There is no other feeling like thinking that someone might have taken your baby or he got lost and is really scared.  

The people that I was eating lunch with were helping me look as well as some people who had been at the church.  I am still screaming and praying to God to not let this happen to my baby.  Someone then suggests that I look in the building for him.  I go inside but inside in almost completely dark and can't help but think that he wouldn't go in there with how dark it was.  I turn around and headed back outside.......when I get out there B is holding Kaden.....Kaden is rubbing his eyes and looking at me like WHAT!  I grabbed him and wouldn't let go, he started to whine because I was holding him soooo tight.  I then ask B were he was..... and wouldn't you know it HE WAS ASLEEP!! He had fallen asleep on the slide that is also a tunnel. I didn't even think to look in the playground.

That happened earlier today and I have to say that since this afternoon the little things have really been put into perspective. God had that situation in His hands but there will be times that scary moment will come and last longer than we would like.  We have to remember that God still has us in His hands whether or not the moment passes or lasts for years. 

I love you Kaden Joseph and mommy is glad that you are safe and sound.

On Etsy

I love that there are people now reading my blog. I spend most of the day trying to figure out how Etsy works. Etsy is a sight that you can sell homemade items.  I am posting some items on there to try and start raising money for the adoption.  Right now I only have hats on the there, but there will be jewelry to come. 

It is amazing what you learn about computers when you spend hours on them.  I tell you it is not my thing but I know that I need to do what it takes to get the word out about the adoption and raise these funds. Plus I have had these hats for a little bit now and need to sell them.

I know that many of you will not be willing to help out financially and that is ok.  I need prayer warriors too. If you would like to be a prayer warrior for me here are the things you can start praying for:

Pray for our baby that they will be protected during the waiting period
Pray that the funds come in for the adoption
Pray that the adoption goes smoothly
Pray that we get a good lawyer

Here are some pictures of the hats



Hello... well to nobody yet

I am officially writing my first blog post.  I am mainly starting a blog so that my friends and family can follow the journey that Joe and I are about to take in adopting a child from Uganda.  I know that God wants us to do this adoption and after looking at how much it will cost and the paperwork that comes along with it, it will TOTALLY have to be a God thing for it to happen. 

We are believing in Gods word when it says in James 1:27:

"Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us."

Although I know that there is nobody reading this yet I wanted to write an update on the adoption for future reference for me to show me how amazing God is and how far he has brought us.

The Adoption:  The first step was to figure out which adoption agency we wanted to go through for our home study.  I talked our pastors wife who has adopted in the past and asked her who she recommended and she said Chinese Children.  After researching who was the cheapest and who knew what they were doing (as far as international adoption went) we have decided to go with Chinese Children.  The next step is to fill our the paperwork and raise money for the home study.  I will be honest the thought of coming up with $3000 to just get started is just crazy to me. 

There is going to be a spot on this blog (as soon as I figure out how to do it) of how you can help with the funding of this miracle.  I make jewelry and crochet hats which will be one of many fundraisers that will be held for raising of the money.

We also have to find a lawyer in country that will be handling the placement or picking out a child for us.  I have contacted some people who are in the process of adopting from Uganda to ask who they are going though.  Please pray the we get a good lawyer who has a heart for the orphan and knowledgeable in the adoption process.

As soon as I figure out how to upload a picture from my camera I will show my kiddos.