March 28th, 2011
Both felt the call to adopt from Uganda. Began praying, saving, and seeking after God's path.
May 2011
We picked Lifeline as our agency.
Interviewed anyone and everyone we could about Ugandan adoption.
Interviewed anyone and everyone we could about Ugandan adoption.
Decided we can't wait until we have the funds, but to trust God's calling and just do the next step: apply! We decided to start all the paperwork the first week Eric's off of school.
June 6, 2011
Submitted our Doctrinal Statement and Christian Questionnaire, Application Packet, and fee, $250.
June 10, 2011
Received word our application was approved and set up training call with our social worker. Received Ugandan manual via email.
June 11, 2011
Set up first official fundraiser. See our puzzle fundraiser here.
Got word we can have a fundraiser at Orange Leaf, a local yogurt shop on 6/21 and they'll donate 10% to our adoption!!!
June 17, 2011
Call and interview with social worker. Went well, she gave us lots of new information.
June 20, 2011
Our first t-shirt order!
June 21, 2011
Orange Leaf fundraiser. Found out $800 worth of receipts were put in our jar and they are donating $100 towards our adoption!
June 22, 2011
Set up fingerprinting appointments and paid fees, $195.08.
June 23, 2011-
Texas FAST fingerprinting for Eric and mailed off Request for Child Abuse/Neglect Central Registry as required for homestudy.
July 5, 2011
Found more paperwork we had missing. Child abuse/Neglect clearance came in the mail and we scanned/sent to our 2 social workers (home study and Lifeline contact).
July 8, 2011
Have appointments for physicals for Eric.
July 15, 2011
This week we presold some items for our garage sale,$575! Plus we had our first shirt order of 33 shirts, and sold some necklaces and beads!! :) God blessed Misty with 7 Juice in the City deals, which allowed me to get a $300 bonus!
July 16, 2011
Sent first payment to Lifeline, $1,875.
July 19, 2011
Eric has follow up appointment for physical, $96.25.
July 20, 2011
Misty has physical appointment, $96.25.
July 23, 2011Had massive garage sale and between that day and prior craigslist items, we made a total of over $3,000 towards our goal!
July 27, 2011
Got paperwork for physicals back and everything looks good. Emailed that to homestudy provider and agency. Homestudy should be complete soon.
July-August 2011
Working on completing online trainings, $175, assigned books, $30, and online reading for adoption file. Shirt shipping fees $60.03.
August 2011
Misty & Eric have passport interviews at post office $296.10. We received word homestudy is passed. Working on final documentation.
Receive a $1,000 and $4,000 anonymous donations in the mail!! What an unexpected blessing!!!!
September 1, 2011
Misty received her passport. Received medical bills from lab work with physical ($630.98)
September 7, 2011
Eric received his passport.
September 17, 2011
Received our finalized, notarized homestudy.
September 28, 2011
Mailed off our USCIS application (and check $890)!
October 11, 2011
A friend gave us a donation, reminding us they are in this with us! $600
October 12, 2011
Completed our hague adoption training online.
October 13, 2011
Received paper from USCIS that they received our application and are waiting on biometrics appointment. Mailed off 2nd payment to agency, $1,625.
October 28, 2011
Headed to Sugar Land for our USCIS biometrics appointment. Should receive acceptance within 2-4 weeks. Once this happens, we get put on the wait list for the referral!
November 25, 2011
No acceptance yet, call officer and she hasn't started on case yet.
December 14, 2011
Got word we got a $5,000 grant AND fundraising support from Kingsland/Lifesong for Orphans!
December 17, 2011
Received our USCIS approval!! Sent off immediately to our agency.
December 19, 2011
Put on referral wait list!! When we get our referral (they say in about 6 months), we'll actually know who God has picked for our family! :)
February 4th, 2012
Found out our referral wait time, based on our agency's visit to Uganda and all the changes in court and embassy, has gone from around 6 months to around 12 months.
July 2012
Found out we were 15th on the waiting list with our agency.
August 2012
Found out we were 13th on the waiting list.
September 2012
Found out we were 12th on the waiting list.
October 2012
Found out we were 10th on the waiting list.
April 2013
We are still 10th on the waiting list, with no new referrals since last September. Though it's not happening in our timing, we know it is God's. We know he is being very active in our wait, teaching us new things, helping us make better choices, for our family, in our parenting, etc. We know we will hear better news soon.
No acceptance yet, call officer and she hasn't started on case yet.
December 14, 2011
Got word we got a $5,000 grant AND fundraising support from Kingsland/Lifesong for Orphans!
December 17, 2011
Received our USCIS approval!! Sent off immediately to our agency.
December 19, 2011
Put on referral wait list!! When we get our referral (they say in about 6 months), we'll actually know who God has picked for our family! :)
February 4th, 2012
Found out our referral wait time, based on our agency's visit to Uganda and all the changes in court and embassy, has gone from around 6 months to around 12 months.
July 2012
Found out we were 15th on the waiting list with our agency.
August 2012
Found out we were 13th on the waiting list.
September 2012
Found out we were 12th on the waiting list.
October 2012
Found out we were 10th on the waiting list.
April 2013
We are still 10th on the waiting list, with no new referrals since last September. Though it's not happening in our timing, we know it is God's. We know he is being very active in our wait, teaching us new things, helping us make better choices, for our family, in our parenting, etc. We know we will hear better news soon.
August 2013
First move in 10 months! We moved from 10th to 8th on the waiting list!
September 2013
Moved to 7th on the waiting list with our agency.
December 2013
No move since September. 2 years we've been officially on the wait list with our agency.
January 2014
6th on the waiting list.
February 2014
Hard email from our agency.
2/26/14 asked to send our home study to a specific baby home.
March 2014
5th on the waiting list.
April 2014
4/4/14 asked to send a picture to the baby home.
4/24/14 Conversation that led to "We will have your last information and your referral on Monday!"
4/2814 - Were matched with our Judah. Received referral packet, information, picture and PRAISE!! Mailed check for First lawyer fee $1,000 and 3rd agency fee (less Noonday Collection donations over the past 2 years) $1,380.83.
May 2014
Started process for updated USCIS fingerprints, updated medicals (5/6/14 appointment) and updated home study (5/9/14).
Met with a sweet young family that was raising support going into full-time ministry and they blessed US with a donation for our adoption $1,000!!!
June 2014
Sent off for our 3rd set of fingerprints from USCIS and paid fee $170!
July 2014
Yellow fever, Hep-A, Polio booster, Typhoid shots OH MY! For the whole family! :) $593.
We are now just waiting on a court date, which could come at any time and be a week or more away! We are gathering suit cases, travel guides, airfare info and completely overwhelmed (in a bad way) with chaos and (in a good way) with God's peace and strength! Went to an event and sold some beads!! $236
August 2014
Three donations have come in and we are SO thankful!! $1,450!
8/13/14 Three more donations came in today, God is showing up big! $2,250
Same day - Typhoid shots for the kiddos $225
8/8/14 We had our travel call with Heather at our agency.
8/28/14 - Spoke to Heather for the last time before her maternity leave. She mentioned that our judge was currently booking for February :(! But Misty still knew God had told her September the day we got our referral.
September 2014
9/2/14 - Called Sarah, our new/old contact at our agency. We told her that we were prepared to leave quickly if we could get worked in with the judge.
9/5/14 - WE GOT THE CALL! Our court date is on 9/10/14!!!
9/7/14 - Scheduled like crazy (plane rides, lodge, packed, medicines, oh my!) and left at 11 am (or 11:40 after delays) for a trip from Houston to Newark to Brussels to Rwanda to Entebbe in Uganda!
9/8/14 - 11pm Arrived in Uganda
9/9/14 - Met our son, Judah Mugisha Newsome! Also, we found out court was cancelled for the next day because our judge had a death in the family.
9/19/14 - Court!! We were told we'd have our verbal ruling on 9/30/14.
October 2014
10/7/14 - Have our verbal ruling
10/17/14 - Have our written ruling and apply for Judah's passport
10/29/14 - Receive Judah's Passport
10/31/14 - First appointment for IOM TB test.
Past fundraising goals:
Our original goal was $3,500 for fundraising for our first two agency payments, and then the additional fees we tried to raise through our garage sale were $1,652. We totaled $5,145 for 2 months of fundraising!!! Thank you!
Our second goal is $3,250 to pay our last two in country fees before traveling. We received some amazing anonymous donations and have met our 2nd goal!! Our travel goal is quite hefty, so that is what we will be focusing on the next few months!
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