Hodge Podge

We are TB free! Both kids passed the medical exams and the files are being sent to the Embassy this afternoon. I’m not sure what their health standards are, but Ki is funky lately. He couldn’t sleep last night because his nose was full and overflowing, which, for a thumb sucker is deadly. Now today he has a frequent cough. We are hoping and praying that we can get these worked out before the plane ride home. We bought more meds today and they seem to be working.

And things seem to be moving well, so for all of you out there praying for 3 weeks, keep it up! Our court ruling is tomorrow. Then we work on passports and then we apply for visas at the Embassy. The one thing that I can think of that might hold the visas up is our financial stuff. Since we work on a ranch and have to live on site, our housing and utilities are part of our compensation package. This in turn makes our salary look small. We have to prove (with tax information) that we make enough money to support our family. Pray that the documentation that describes our compensation package will be enough for the Embassy.

The night we got here Rashid told us that Ki is a miracle baby. He said when he was brought to the orphanage, he was near death. He was almost a year old and couldn’t hold his head up. Rashid said it would have only been a matter of time before he died. Now, after 4 months here, Ki is sitting up and ooching around well. I can’t call it a crawl, but he can move. He likes standing with help now too. Another interesting fact about Ki is that he is an ambidextrous thumb sucker. Shocking. None of my thumb suckers have been able to switch.

We are going to try to go on a safari. I hope we can fit it in somehow. But we also want to get home. We can’t wait to introduce these little ones to our other kids and our family and friends.

The wedding we went to on Saturday would have been super neat if the orphanage workers weren’t there. It was just another sad day for Elsie, but she bounced back pretty quickly. I think we have decided that Jonathan will go to the orphanage without Elsie and me. Then, maybe we can switch. It is hard to balance being here for our children and doing what is best for them and blessing the people and other children here. But I do have a peace about putting Elsie first. Her heart is tender and fragile and we have been given a short time to tend it and we need to make the most of the time we have.

We are sitting outside the medical building right now waiting for another couple to finish up and Jonathan has music playing on his phone. And ELSIE HAS GOT SOUL. Something the Grassmick family severely lacks...until now, that is.

We found out that Ki’s last name is some ancient Ugandan God, and we were going to use those as their new middle names, so we are thinking about changing them. Rashid is trying to figure out what Kafuko means, which is Elsie’s last name. We might just use that for both of them. Here in Uganda you get your last name by what tribe you are from, but each tribe has a hat full of names they can choose from so most of the time, siblings don’t have the same last name.

I think we are out of survival mode now. We are starting to think about what it will be like and what we will do once we get home.

I don’t think we could be on this journey without all of you and your support. Thank you for your part in this amazing story that is unfolding.