No turning back

Four weeks ago, almost to the hour, Mark and I took off from Nashville International Airport to travel for 24 hours, stopping in Washington, DC; Brussels, Belgium; Kigali, Rwanda; and finally, Entebbe, Uganda. Lately I've been having flashbacks to my internal processing and the feel of that drive from the airport in Entebbe to the guesthouse in Kampala. Even though it was midnight, throughout the hour-long ride there were people everywhere on the streets. It seemed unfathomable to me that so many people would be up so late and out walking, but apparently it was not unusual because it was a Saturday night and also because there had just been a big football/soccer game. The smell of burning filled the air. The radio in the car was set to thumping dance music, turned up really loud. It was all overwhelming and surreal.  Part of me wanted to go back home before we even got started.  The social worker asked which one of us was going to learn Luganda. Wait a minute … isn't the child going to learn English?  We showed up at the guesthouse around 1 a.m., where a man in a pink bathrobe carrying an assault rifle opened the gate. Inside, a Ugandan woman in pajamas and a hair net greeted us and showed us to our room.  We brushed our teeth with bottled water, took our Ambien and went to sleep in a new world.

It feels like a lifetime ago.

It's now been 26 days since Robert's been with us. On that first Sunday, he was quick to smile and laugh, but was also a scared, confused and frustrated little boy. Though we had tried to cram a few Luganda phrases into our brains on the plane and in the guesthouse that morning, we had almost no language in common with him. We had to roll up the legs of his size 4 pants several times so they wouldn't drag on the ground and cinch the waist to the tightest button in the adjustable elastic band so they wouldn't fall off. The first few nights at bedtime were very traumatic for all of us – we didn’t know how long the wailing would last.

Our first day together

Flash forward to today and his English vocabulary numbers in the hundreds of words. Whether it's Luganda or English that either of us are speaking, we can almost always communicate and understand each other now. He is full of life, soaking up everything like a sponge. He wants our involvement in all of his discoveries and our praise at every new accomplishment. We've had to loosen the waistbands in his pants and aren't rolling up the legs quite so much. His hair is growing quickly, which we've been told means he's healthy. Bedtime is now usually peaceful and full of laughter. 

Right before we left Nashville, I recorded video walking up our driveway and through our house. Two weeks ago, we showed Robert the video, pointing out various highlights. He was, of course, mainly intrigued by the "motocars" in the driveway, but he also seemed to understand what we were telling him. The word he kept saying in Luganda translated as "mine".  He watches the video a lot and now he points out everything he sees, in English – table, sink, bath … This morning, when it got to his room, he said a full sentence, "This is Robert’s bed."

Although we know it will mean more transitions to weather together, we are really looking forward to taking him there soon.  His passport finally arrived tonight, so our next step is the embassy for the visa.  Please join us in praying that we find favor there and are able to get through that process quickly.  We hope you can meet our little guy in person soon.  You are going to love him!