We aren't in Kansas anymore....

Photos: Just Some Fun Shots

nem — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 04:15:00 GMT

FInally Coming Home!!!!!

nem — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 20:30:00 GMT

After an especially long two months we have finally met the end. Though there were many obstacles and bumps along the road, we are elated to say that we are finally coming home with our new addition to the family! As you know we had a very difficult time attaining Mary’s passport. The official processing her passport became very difficult and was trying to make the process much longer for us. Once we got our lawyer involved, however, we had the passport last Monday. The lady in the U.S. Embassy bent over backwards for us to keep our new Visa appointment for Wednesday 14^th and we met Moses and Mary’s biological mother for the interviews. That Friday we finally received Mary’s Visa. It was such an amazing feeling to walk out of that office knowing we could finally go home!

We were not able to get a flight until this Thursday night so we fled to Jinja for a few days to keep us occupied and give us a change of pace. We stayed at an amazing hotel with a pool about ten years from our hotel door. I also had the opportunity to travel to Iganga for a few hours and see the teachers and kids from the school I taught at last summer which was great. We got back to Kampala yesterday afternoon and have been anxiously awaiting getting home. Today we have been able to get some packing done which only makes going home all the more real. Mary keeps dancing around us excitedly saying that we are going home tomorrow night. She is just as excited as we are! She is especially looking forward to Christmas in America as, even in Uganda, they start to put Christmas decorations out in mid-November. We just came from the Nakumatt and there was an electronic Santa Claus and Christmas tree outside that she was absolutely fascinated with.

I wanted to thank everyone who has been so supportive of our family through this entire process. We are very grateful to all of you and we are so excited to introduce to you our special girl! It is such a gift to experience this little girl’s presence, especially after seeing how withdrawn and cut off from the world she was only a year ago. I have been in awe of my parents since the moment I told them about Mary and her situation and they have only continued to amaze me with their capacity to accept and love the child I fell in love with last year. They are truly amazing and beautiful people.

Hope all is well with everyone back home and we will see in a few days!!!!!!!

Our Light Burns Out...

nem — Tue, 6 Nov 2012 19:20:00 GMT

At 5:00 yesterday evening our last hope of coming home on Saturday vanished. As I said in the last post, there were a lot of dominoes that had to fall exactly right for us to come home when we planned to, and they did not. So, we are no longer coming home this Satruday. We are currently being jerked around by the immigration office that has yet to give us Mary’s passport. Originally they told us we would have her passport last week, but now they say the paperwork has to go through all the "proper channels" and will not tell us what is going on. Without the passport we are unable to get an appointment to obtain Mary’s Visa. It has been a very disappointing and frustrating last few days as we have all grown tired of the emotional roller coaster this process has incurred. Unfortunately, we have been given no time table as to when we can expect to receive the passport leaving us back in Purgatory with no end in sight at this time. We are also stuck, of course, with not knowing what to do with the plane tickets. We do not want to reschedule them without having some sort of idea as to when we will be able to actually go home, but at the same time canceling the tickets completely is much more expensive. As you can imagine the mood around here has shifted dramatically.

Tomorrow both our lawyer and Moses are going to the immigration office to try and work things out, but at this point none of us are clinging to much hope. There is nothing else to report on the progress here as there is not any at the moment. Right now we are all just very disappointed and anxious as to how long we are going to be here with such uncertainty surrounding the passport. I hope that everyone is doing well at home. We will be watching the reports on the elections tonight! I hope everyone had a chance to vote no matter your candidate choice. I will update with news as soon as we have any.

Photos: Gorilla Trekking in Bwinidi

nem — Sun, 4 Nov 2012 13:20:00 GMT

The Nkuringo Gorilla Group

A Possible Light at the End of a Seemingly Endless Tunnel

nem — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 13:13:00 GMT

We may actually be making some progress over here. Though trying not to get our hopes up too much, it is hard not to feel a shift in the air that things might actually work out. Mary had her medical clearance on Monday. All she had to get was a TB test which she goes back on Thursday to have cleared. As I am writing this, Mary and our parents are going through the passport process. Details are unclear, but for whatever reason the lawyer said that it was better for Moses to go in with Mary and her biological family and our parents stay outside in the waiting room. To say that we are unhappy about this would be an understatement. Right now the office is going through all the paperwork to make sure everything is correct. However, this means Mary has had to sit with the biological family the whole time and our parents are forced to wait outside while this goes on. In the end, as long as we get the passport, it will be worth it, but that does not make it any easier in the moment. The hope is that once this is done we will have Mary’s passport by this afternoon or early tomorrow morning. If this happens, if being the operative word as we do not count on anything here, it would be a huge step because not having the passport has been our big hold up with the Visa process.

On Friday, Mom and Dad are headed to the U.S. Embassy to review all of our documents and paperwork to ensure that we have everything necessary for the Visa application. If we do, then we can make an appointment for Monday morning and if that goes as planned, we will be able to get the Visa that afternoon. If we get the Visa we are set to come home. In case you did not notice, there are a number of “ifs” in that sentence. Everything has to fall exactly in place for this to work out in our favor so things, while more hopeful, are also tense and anxious in our apartment these days. We are also anxious about finally going home, if everything goes as planned, next weekend which only makes the days seem longer.

As for me, I am finally getting to do something I have waited to do a long time to do. I am going gorilla trekking on Friday. I leave tomorrow for a very long drive down to the far reaches of Southwestern Uganda into Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. I am very excited about finally getting to trek the Mountain Gorillas! It also takes me out of Kampala for three days and gives me something to do other than sit around and stress over the Visa process in Kampala. Since I am the only one going, I have been told if I do not bring back excellent photos I will not be allowed back into the apartment, so hopefully all goes well! From what I have been told from numerous people, once you set out with a trekking group you are pretty much guaranteed to find a gorilla family. Once we find them we are allowed to spend up to an hour sitting with gorilla family. It should be a great trip and one I have looked forward to for a long time!

If we get as far as the Visa appointment on Monday, we will all have to be there for interviews. This may include the biological family unfortunately. Later in the week I am supposed to be traveling back to Jinja where I will also visit the school I interned at in Iganga. This of course is a tentative plan as once again it depends on everything falling in place these next few days. I hope everyone at home is doing well. We miss everyone and hope to see you all soon! Please keep us in your thoughts over the next few days. Hopefully it will all work out!

Safari in Uganda!

nem — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 05:40:00 GMT

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting we finally left for Queen Elizabeth National Park last Wednesday. It was a long drive as QENP is on the western border beside the DRC, but an incredibly beautiful one. It finally gave my parents the chance to see the Uganda I fell in love with as we spend the majority of our time in the hellish city of Kampala. We stayed at the Simba Safari Lodge where we got excellent food and service. My parents had their own room while Mary and I shared one next door. The next morning we were up and out early…6:30am early. Our day started with a safari drive through Kasenyi where we saw hundreds of Ugandan Kobs, some lions, warthogs, African Buffalo, and a ton of birds.

We returned to the lodge for breakfast and spent the late morning relaxing while a storm rolled in. By the time we ready to go however, the storm was over and the sun was finally coming out. We headed out towards the Kazinga Channel where, much to Mary’s delight, we took a boat ride. The Kazinga Channel runs between Lake Edward and Lake George and was said to be the highlight of the trip. Along the banks of the Channel were numerous species of birds, tons of buffalo and hippos, a few crocodiles, and a single elephant. There were also many fisherman headed up to Lake Edward, as it is illegal to fish in the Kazinga Channel. The boat ride proved to be a lot of fun and provided an opportunity to see many animals.

The next morning we left bright and early to head back to Kampala, much to my dismay. I was somewhat disappointed in the end as I was only able to see an elephant from a great distance. Elephants are my favorite animals and the one I was most looking forward to seeing. However, as we were driving out of QENP, there was a single, massive elephant coming toward us to cross the road. I was very excited about how close he was to all of us. After this I was much happier. But, it did not stop there. Further down the road we spotted seven elephants not far from the road!!! They had knocked down a tree and were quite content to stay around for us and feast while we snapped photos. We took a different road back giving is an opportunity to cross over the Equator and see the officially marked spot dividing North and South. Once we got back we spent the evening relaxing and recovering from the long drive. All in all we had an amazing time. The scenery was amazing and we got some great shots of the animals. Now we are back in reality waiting for the passport and Visa and medical clearance. More to come on that in the next blog!

Photos: Queen Elizabeth National Park

nem — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 20:21:00 GMT

Safari in Uganda

Purgatory in Kampala...

nem — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 19:05:00 GMT

After an eventful first two weeks things have hit a lull where we find ourselves sitting in what feels like Purgatory. We got the court ruling which we were of course ecstatic over the results, but now we are playing the hurry up and wait game. I am not one to just sit around and do nothing all day. Unfortunately that is exactly what we are doing. Many of our days of late are spent around the apartment or going into town to use the WI-FI at a cafe. Today we thought we were going to at least make some progress with Mary's medical clearance. Unfortunately, we have to put it off another week and now we still are no further to getting anything done. Another source of anxiety lies in attaining Mary's passport which is taking longer than expected and is the last necessary component in applying for her Visa.

Our downtime is spent constantly remembering that we are not in America anymore and how much we miss certain aspects of our home country. Hence the title of my journal home page. It has been a constant saying when things do not go as well as hoped or to how we are used to in America that we are not in Kansas anymore. My parents are serious homebodies and have never been away from home and their animals for this long so this is especially hard on them. Also, I think my Dad is going a little nuts being constantly surrounded by females! He misses having Matt around to have his "guy time". As for me, I am just going crazy with having nothing to do. It is not so much that I am missing America as I have been away from it before, but last time I was working every day at least eight hours a day and on weekends I traveled. So for all of us it is kind of like slow torture waiting for things to progress.

On a lighter note, the plus side to having this time here is, of course, getting to know Mary. Mom and Mary have settled into a routine that works really well for her. In the morning she gets to watch a little tv before the days starts. She does some school work with Mom for an hour or two, has lunch and then heads down to the pool. The pool is probably the highlight of her day. For someone who was rather weary of the water at first, she loves her pool time. The afternoon is spent with a movie to give Mom a little down time. And after dinner, it is time to wind down with a shower and a book. For the the adults our wind down time is spent escaping into the world of Castle (a TV show). Silly as it sounds that show has kept us sane and it gives us a place to hide for an hour or two. Also, there are always our close friends, Vodka and Brandy, mine and Dad's choice of liquor, respectively.

For now, we are trying to be positive that things will work out. As for me, I am focusing, as best I can, on upcoming trips. As I already mentioned in a previous blog, we are headed to Queen Elizabeth NP on Wednesday for a safari. The next week I will hopefully be headed to the far reaches of Southwestern Uganda for Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to go gorilla trekking and after that I am headed to Jinja and Iganga to visit the kids I taught last summer. We are always keeping in mind that the end result is completely worth it as I never saw this little girl talk and laugh as much as she does now. And that is big for me.

Uganda and it's Brutal Court System

nem — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 18:40:00 GMT

After a late night arrival into Kampala we spent the next day recovering and looking forward to seeing Mary. We got to the lawyers office on Monday October 1 around 10am. We had our court day set for that day....little did we know. My parents met Mary for the first time in the office and it was very nerve racking. There were lots of people around, including her biological brother, mother, and uncle so she was very shy at first. After the office cleared it was just the two of us and so to ease the nerves we looked at pics from home of the dogs and family. She finally started to talk, not much, but a couple words. Once we realized it was going to be a while I set her up with my iPod to watch a movie which seemed to make her happy to have something to take her mind off of all the chaos. This is where the Ugandan Court System makes ours look efficient and effective. The judge ended up not being in court even though us and three other families had hearings scheduled that day. So we were told to come back the next day.

After that day Mary came back to the hotel with us and has stayed with us since then. She was shy at first but the next morning she was talking more. We got to the court house around 10:30am and waited with the biological family in a waiting room. Talk about akward. It was not until 6:15 that we made it into the court room and at 8:30 the judge told us that our dates were written down wrong and that we would have to come back on Thursday. Frustration was at a breaking point but we were in it for the long haul.

It was recommened to visit some of Uganda's historical sites to learn some history as the judge looks kindly on families who do. So, thankful to have a break from court we went to see Uganda's Museum and the King's Palace. This turned out to be a much longer day than expected and rather boring for an 8 year old.

On Thursday we headed back to court around 11. We were there....all day. Again. And the last family to be heard...but we finally got our case heard. It was a rather nerve racking ordeal. The judge spoke the biological family first and then our family asking some unexpected questions and making some odd, sometimes almost derogatory, comments. The day was once again long and very tiring, both emotionally and physically from sitting around so long. We were told that we would get the ruling the following week on Friday the 12th.

The next week waiting for the ruling was spent moving to an apartment...and then moving to another apartment as the first was less than ideal! For those of you who are not aware, I HATE Kampala. With every fiber of my being. It is loud, crowded, filled with smog and unbearable traffic, and much more expensive than the rest of the country. However, the place we are at now is beautiful. It is a small oasis that is in the city but without you knowing it. Our balcony looks over the golf course and there is a kids pool and swing set for Mary. Once we were moved in we took some time to relax after a grueling week of court. Also that week my parents celebrated their 25th anniversary. Bet they never thought this is where and how they would spend it!

Friday finally came and if there was ever a day that was filled with anxiety, it was that one. I know both my parents were very nervous. For me, I just kept going over everything that I said when being questioned by the judge hoping it was the right thing. Thankfully this day was not as long as the other. We were only there for about three hours before being called into court. Once the judge got to our case he spent some time jerking us around. It was certainly not the nicest way to deliver the ruling. It was more like he was toying with us to mess with your head. But in the end we got what we wanted. My parents were granted legal guardianship of Mary and were permitted to immigrate with her to America. It was in a very good day.

Much to my happiness we also left for Jinja after the court ruling. While I lived in Iganga last summer, I had friends in Jinja and that was my favorite place to be so I was stoked to be going back and getting away from Kampala. We stayed a really beautiful place by Lake Victoria. The first day was spent checking out the craft shops and buying a few gifts. The following day, Moses and Yaseen took us to see Mary's school, Jinja Prepatory, Kagoma Village, Wairaka, and then Emma and Rose. Seeing Kagoma Village, where Moses is working with others to build a school, was the first true glimpse my parents got to see of real poverty. There is no welfare or food stamps here. There are not even latrines. The need in this village, and many others like it, is absolutely overwhelming. And it starts with the most basic of needs. We also saw Wairaka, another village not quite as bad off, where Moses is working on building the Koi Koi school. Unfortunately, some of the workers who were helping pulled out and it has since stalled much of the work. We ended the evening spending some time with Emma and Rose. I spent a lot of time with them, including going horseback riding along the Nile with both them and another friend of mine.

Now we are back in Kampala....much to my dismay. On Monday Mary is going in for her medical clearance and we are currently waiting on her passport to be completed. Once we get the passport we can begin the visa process so we are on hold until then. On Wednesday we leave for Queen Elizabeth National Park for three days which we are all most excited about. There we will go on a small safari and are looking forward to seeing all the animals. I will definitely post pictures here once we get them! As for now you are caught up on the happenings in Uganda. I hope everyone reading this is doing well! We miss everybody in the states! More to come soon!

Here is the site for The Giving Circle (they are the group currently helping Kagoma Village and Wairaka) if anyone is interested. They are doing amazing work! http://www.thegivingcircle.org/uganda.html

Italy

nem — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 20:53:00 GMT

After a rather rough start in Italy and a hotel in the middle of nowhere with no one who spoke English, we ended up in Hotel Bramante just two blocks from St. Peter's Basilica. We spent the next day walking around the Castel of San Angelo and climbing to the top where we got an amazing 360 view of Rome. After that we headed to Vatican City where we took a guided tour of the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. They say that if you stopped to look at each item for one minute in every one of the Vatican Museums it would take you twenty years! The highlight for me, however, was the Sistine Chapel. After years of talking about it and seeing pictures and hearing the history of the Sistine Chapel it was unreal to finally stand inside and see firsthand, Michelangelo’s work. By the end of a very long tour we ended up going to what looked like a nothing restaurant just outside the Vatican. It turned out they had some of the best food we had in Italy.

The next day we took the metro up to see the Trevi Fountain. There were mobs of people at this fountain! It was crazy. We each threw a coin into the fountain. For those of you who do not know, those who toss a coin into this fountain are sure to return to Rome again. From there we walked to see the Colosseum. Words cannot describe what it was like to be able to walk around inside. It was a truly unique experience.

While Rome was amazing to see, my favorite place was Assisi in Umbria. We took a train from Rome (which was an experience in itself navigating the train station in Rome!!) and got to see the countryside of Italy along the way. After hopping a bus to the top of the hill we were able to walk to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. There were no pictures, videos, or talking aloud inside. Though that did not stop us from snapping a few photos (this was the same for the Sistine Chapel). The art along the walls and ceilings was so detailed and bright colored. In the lower part of the Basilica laid the tomb of St. Francis. This was the main reason I wanted to go to Assisi; to stand where his body rested was a moment I will not forget. The town of Assisi is absolutely beautiful. It is at the top of a hill which also provides an unbelievable view of the countryside in Italy. We spent some time walking around Assisi before heading back to the train station. We even saw another amazing Church and a nearby convent, which my Dad thinks is my new home.

The next stop was Firenze, or more commonly referred to in America as Florence. We only had a short time there and some of it was disappointing. We had bought tickets to Uffizi Museum the night before and headed there first. Unfortunately, we were unable to go in due to a worker’s strike that day subsequently closing the museum. We did however find an artist near the water who was doing realistic drawings. Mom and Dad got one done together and I got one done as well. They both turned out amazing! I was truly impressed with his skill and ability to capture our likeness in a drawing. You can see a picture of him at work in the Italy gallery. We also took a walk on the famous Ponte Vecchio Bridge. This is where I got my graduation gift from my parents!! On the other side we had a true Italian meal (you can also find pics in the Italy gallery of mine) that was out of this world!

We took the train back to Rome and packed up our stuff. It was an early bedtime for us as our flight from Rome left at 6:30am!!! Not fun. We were getting into the cab at 4:00am. Our flight left from Rome to Brussels and down to Rwanda where we had to wait for some passengers to get off and others to get on. We did not get into Uganda until 10 and we checked into our hotel just after midnight. All in all we had a great time in Italy. Stay tuned for the next blog!

Photos: Uganda

nem — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 07:12:00 GMT

Photos: Italy

nem — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:00:00 GMT

Here are some photos from Rome, Assisi, and Florence!