SHAVE IT OR SAVE IT FUNDRAISER!

Jason has accepted a challenge to do something he REALLY does not want to do…PUT HIS BEARD ON THE LINE!!!  But, he loves Shakirah more than his beard! J  We are raising money to get this adoption process moving along!

THIS IS HOW IT WORKS:  $1.00 = 1 vote through the month of June. 
You can make a donation and cast your vote through 11:59pm Friday June 30^th, 2017. On Saturday July 1^st, we will reveal which side won and Jason will either shave his beard completely, or he will get to save it!  If the “shave it” side wins, then whoever has the largest donation gets to do the honor of taking the clippers to his face!  (If they want…if they don’t want to; then they can choose someone else to do it.) 

How to donate:

1. Tax deductible online donation - https://adopttogether.org/families/?fundraiser=adopt-shakirah. When you donate, there will be an option to add a comment.  Cast your vote in the comment!

2. Cash or check with a note casting your vote and give to Jason or me.

I have this as a public event on Facebook, so go to our page and find the link (or just do a search for Shave it or Save it).  Every couple of days we will post a chart on that page with an update as to which side is winning.  It will look something like the chart I posted in the pictures of the event. 

THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS!!!

I know it has been a long time since I have updated the blog!  We finally got our home study completed (for the second time!), and Reverend Jeremiah delivered it to our attorney in Uganda on his last trip there.  That attorney is finalizing some paperwork, and then he will get us a court date.  He said that the court date won’t be until at least September because of the schedule of the Ugandan court.  In the meantime, we are still trying to complete steps on the U.S. side.  We still owe our U.S. attorney a lot of money ($8,500 to be exact), so that side is going pretty slow right now.  Between that and anticipating a trip to Uganda for court there, keep your eye out for some upcoming fundraisers!  You can also make a tax-deductible donation through this website: http://adopttogether.org/families/?fundraiser=adopt-shakirah.  If you look at some of the earlier posts, we do still have  pieces left on the puzzle fundraiser as well!

Shakirah is currently still in a boarding school and doing very well with her grades!

Thank you for all the prayers!  Love y’all!

Blessings,

Jason & Molly

Update

Just wanted to check in with an update.  Uganda has passed a new law that is making this a little more difficult, so all prayers are appreciated!  We are still working with the Ugandan attorney on the specifics of it.  Thank you for your continued support and prayers!

Update on the process

Hello everyone!  I know it has been a while since we have posted anything; but that's because there has not been a whole lot of "updating" to do!  We did get our home-study update scheduled, and that is going to take place this Saturday, July 16th, so be in prayer that all goes smoothly with that!  It is the same sweet lady that did our original home study, so I'm sure it will all go just fine.  As soon as that paperwork is complete, we can re-submit our application with U.S. Immigration and our Ugandan attorney can submit it to the Ugandan Court. 

We are still raising funds to finish paying off our U.S. attorney that is our Hague-Accredited Primary Service Provider.  After that, we will need to put money away to have on standby for us to travel to Uganda as soon as we get a court date.  We have been told that sometimes the notice they give is relatively short.  :-)  The puzzle is almost complete, but there are still a couple of rows left if you want to donate and have your name on a "piece of the puzzle to bring Shakirah home"!  Below is a picture of the puzzle.You can make a tax-deductible donation throught this website:   https://www.adopttogether.org/adopt-shakirah

Continue to be in prayer for "patience" for both us and Shakirah, and that we find favor with the Ugandan Court and U.S. Immigration.  We understand that everything is in God's timing, but it is also hard to not get a little frustrated at how long everything takes.  Shakirah is 11 years old and very smart, so she understands it is a long process, but sometimes I think that she might get fearful that we have forgotten about her over here in America.  We keep in touch through one of the local pastors on Facebook, but have not been able to talk to her since we came back from there in January. 

Thank you and love y'all! 
God Bless,
Jason & Molly 

On December 26, 2015, I finally got to travel to Uganda with the Living Wellsprings of Life Mission Team (thanks to a very generous couple)!  I met Shakirah for the first time.  She is just as sweet as I imagined and it was a blessing to finally meet her.  While there, I met with the probate officer in Mbale to introduce myself and check in on the status of our case.  As I said in my previous post, we have had to backtrack on some of the steps in the process.  But we did find someone to act as our Hague-Accredited Primary Service Provider here in the United States.  He is an attorney in New York, and only one of three attorneys in the U.S. that can act as a PSP. A helpful lady at an adoption agency in Waco referred us to him since we could not find an adoption agency willing to take our case and work with Uganda.  So, we are now gathering documents and preparing to have our home study re-done.  After our home study is completed, our attorney in Uganda can then submit our file to the probate officer, who will in turn complete her investigation and then it will be presented in the Ugandan Court.  Also, once our home study is completed, we can re-apply with U.S. Immigration as the first step in getting permission to bring Shakirah into the United States after the Ugandan Court approves the adoption. 

So please just continue your prayers for Shakirah and this entire process!  We still have several puzzle pieces left from our “puzzle fundraiser”, so if you would like to make a tax-deductible donation and get your name on a puzzle piece, you can click on this link:

https://www.adopttogether.org/adopt-shakirah

All of the money that has been donated so far helped pay for me to go to Uganda and meet with Shakirah and the probate officer, half of the fees for our Ugandan attorney, fees for our original attorney that we were working with here in the U.S., travel expenses for Jason to go to Uganda last summer to meet with attorney and probate officer, and several other miscellaneous things that come up that we had no idea about until we started this process (filing fees with immigration, cost of online adoption training classes, fingerprinting, passport/birth certificate for Shakirah, etc…I don’t have my list in front of me).  The next round of fundraising is going to be for our updated home study, retainer for our Primary Service Provider/attorney in New York, and the rest of what we owe the attorney in Uganda. 

Thank you and love y’all!

God Bless!!!

Update on Process

I know it has been a long time since we have posted any updates about the adoption.  Lately when people ask how it is going, my answer is usually “slow”.  We thought we were making a lot of headway, then, due to a new law that went into effect last year, we have had to backtrack in the process.  When trying to go by laws in two different countries, I guess stuff like this should not be surprising, but it is still a little frustrating.  Not sure what God is trying to teach us (patience maybe? J ), but we are still plugging along and fighting for what we know HE is leading us to do; we will continue to trust in our Lord’s timing and methods.  You don’t know how much we appreciate everyone’s support; whether it be through prayers, encouragement, or financially.  Right now we especially ask for your prayers.  The Ugandan legislature has a law that they are going to be voting on (unknown date) that will make international adoptions there extremely difficult.  Adoption agencies and other advocates of adoption have been giving presentations to the government to try and get them to not pass this law.  They have been listening, and delayed the vote that was supposed to be this fall.  Supposedly some members of the Ugandan legislature are supposed to travel to the United States soon (maybe not until right after the first of the year) so they can talk with lawmakers here, and adoption agencies here in the U.S. will get an opportunity to speak to them as well.  This is one reason why we have had problems finding a Hague Accredited “Primary Service Provider” to represent our case.  I am finding out that they don’t want to work with Uganda until they see what happens with the vote on this new law.   

In the meantime, we are looking into other ways to get Shakirah here while we work on the adoption from here.  It is a very long process; even without delays some adoption agencies have said it takes an average of 2 years.  But just know that we are still in the process and we appreciate everyone’s continued prayers!  Love y’all!!!  J

Jason in Uganda

     Jason left for Uganda this past Monday (Aug. 10^th) to get the adoption process moving.  We texted back and forth the first part of the week, and I finally got to talk to him today.  Even though we still have to submit our I-600A approval notice from U.S. Immigration, he is meeting with the attorney there and getting some of the steps knocked out.  He is working on getting Shakirah’s birth certificate, passport, medical exam, and VISA application submitted.  He has been getting to spend a lot of time with Shakirah, but the WiFi is not working for him to post any pictures on Facebook or text me any!  L  He was telling Shakirah about her room and how she and Maylee would have bunk beds.  She got very excited and said “Oh!  Do you sleep on beds??!!”  Oh how we take things for granted here!

      Another exciting thing that Jason told me to share on the blog…a Texas driver’s license is valid in Uganda!  He has been getting to drive…not sure if that is “exciting”, or “SCARY” after the stories I’ve heard and videos I have seen!  LOL! 

     We still are not sure on a timeline…it will all depend on how soon we get our approval from immigration and can get the paperwork filed in the Ugandan court.  But I do know we are a whole lot closer than before Jason went over there; thank you Lord and thank you everyone for praying for this trip! 
    And he verified her birthdate...it is 11/4/2004...one day before mine!  How cool is that??  I kept saying she is 9...I was wrong...she is 10!