day in and day out, i get caught up in the craziness of our lives. the coming and going. the routine and/or lack there of. some days with little ones melting more often than not....hard days that are filled with shouting, physical aggression, door slamming and unkind words {and i don't even have teenagers yet!}. these are my days..no, not all of them but a good amount of them. don't get me wrong, we still laugh and joke and wrestle and giggle..we do have good times..sweet, sweet times that i want to remember forever. during those times, i look at my family and just revel in the precious and plentiful blessings that are straight from above. the hard and heavy times are getting farther and farther apart {praise the LORD!} .. we now have a few hard days a week instead of the everyday yuck.

i think one of the reasons i have been so quiet this past year is because i keep waiting for life to change..to return to "normal" .. whatever that is. is there even a normal ?? i would love to hop on here and write about how good things are and how easy our transition has been. but things aren't always good and this transition has been one of the hardest i have ever endured. 

when we got home, people were so excited {so were we!!}. many thought though because we had spent a year together, that we would just jump right in..and we didn't...we endured so many questions {rightfully so!}..and honestly it wasn't even the questions..it was the response after our answers that was so hard to stomach. 

we would often respond with truthful answers. it went something like this:: 

them::'are you so GLAD to be home??"
us::'yes, we are very thankful to be home but it's hard. and overwhelming.' {one of the many responses we would give}
them::'but aren't you THANKFUL that your prayers were answered??"

well of course we are thankful! and we feel so blessed but since when did having a thankful heart mean that everything has to be perfect??  it doesn't mean that at all! we can be thankful and still have difficult days. i wouldn't trade my sweet ones for ANYTHING..nothing in the world would make me love them any less. ever.

but man, some days are hard. really hard. 

and that is okay!

does it change my love for my littles. no! does it change my trust in the Almighty one?? no!! 
does it mean that i am REAL and that my need for a savior is even greater than i ever thought possible?? YES!!!

i think because of the way that i have felt during those times, it has made me more aware of others going through something similar. it seems like many of us {in the 'church'..yes, i am lumping all christians together ;)} aren't okay with just sitting and being..in a rut..or a hard place..or if we are mourning..if we are going through a hard time, many people seem to downplay the hard and difficult times..maybe so we can seem put together? i don't know..i just don't get it anymore..

i have missed this space .. i have missed sharing my heart .. i have missed sharing the work that god is doing in my life and in the lives of those in front of me. 

so, for now, i'm back and so excited about writing again. 

can we make a deal?? 
can we be honest with one another? and encouraging? can we skip the judgement?? 

i'm real folks and so NOT put together!! i'm ready to start sharing my heart again {even if most days, i am a hot mess!}.

so come on, join me...??

i remember sitting in the court room on december 14th, in front of 3 appellate judges {in gowns and george washington wigs! this was the real deal folks!!}, listening to our lawyer plead our case...with a voice that was so respectful and so bold. for at least 45 minutes, our lawyer laid everything out for the judges. he cited this case and that, talked about where our girl had been and where she would be. he talked best case scenario for her and with tears in his eyes {don't tell him i told you that;)}, he recalled a [tragic] previous situation that was not in the best interest of the child.....for 45 minutes he went on and on .. but not in a-talking-forever-kind of way, just in a not-leaving-anything-on-the-table sort of way.

to see and experience all of this is something that will forever be ingrained in my heart..

we left relieved and honestly, quite hopeful. we thought there might be a chance to be home before christmas..so hopeful..almost to the point of ridiculousness;) we knew it was an outlandish plan but we also know that miracles are nothing short of the God we serve. so we asked for your prayers while we wished and prayed for a miracle.

well, God clearly had other plans because we spent christmas in uganda...

then on February 9, i remember waiting in the court house with nya, a sweet friend of mine and our lawyers {A had gone home at this point}..the day had finally come, it was time for our ruling to be read

they finally called us and we squeezed into this teeny, tiny room with a couch and a bunch of chairs, most of which were already filled. i have no idea who was in there that day but as i rocked my sleepy girl with knots in my tummy and beads of sweat on my brow, i prayed and prayed as i tried to make sense of the words that the man behind the desk was reading. with the construction noise outside the window and the constant hum of the fan, it was so hard to hear, let alone make sense of the twenty some odd pages he read through..

...i found myself leaning forward, straining to hear all of the words. i caught myself glancing at one of the lawyers trying to read his face. then, i think i hear the words we have been waiting for but look to my lawyer for confirmation. he nods, with tears in his eyes and i KNOW she is ours.

i can't stop the tears from running down my face.
the fight is over.
she is ours.

forever.

there are just 6.5 more hours until the Bringing Mary Home Handmade Online Auction ends!!!

because we LOVE surprises and we want to add a bit more excitement to the last few hours before the auction closes...

ALL of the items that HAVEN'T BEEN BID on WILL be marked DOWN TO HALF OF THE STARTING BID.

YES, you read that right!! so fun, right?!

ok, so here's the deal :: first one to bid on an item with ZERO bids gets the slashed price..following shoppers can bid up from there.

so for example, there is this amazing photo shoot package in southern CA donated by Dominick B. Photography that is originally valued at $300.

we started the bid at $125 but because nobody has bid on it yet, it is now starting at $63. That is it!!!

there are at least 6 other items without bids!!

here's what you do::

once you get to the Bringing Mary Home Handmade Online Auction,  view all the items. if there isn't a bid yet, take the starting bid and divide by 2...you now have your new place to start bidding! on most items, the new bids are listed but if by chance you don't notice a lower price, please feel free to start bidding at the new price!!! {helpful hint :: to view the items quickly, make sure you are viewing in 'sidebar'...all the items without a number to the right of it has been slashed in half!}

don't forget to check out all the other items as well!! there are still amazing deals to be had and most things are still well under the original value!!!

you can start your bidding NOW!!!!!

click here to shop!!!!

tonight, we spent out time filling out paperwork to get our finalization process started for the babies...and listing everything we had to pay for {the list goes on and on and on;)}. 

friends, i am still blown away at your generousity..thank you for loving our family well during months of uncertainity. we have been so, so blessed. never once did we ever walk alone. even now, i am moved to tears and have so much thankfulness. words cannot express..

I seriously can't get enough of Bob Goff's new book, Love Does. it is SO good. you know, the kind that makes you laugh out loud...can't put it down. well this is it!! here is one of my favorite excerpts {although not one of the funny ones...you will have to read the book for those;)}::

**a couple of things happen when we accept Jesus' invitation to participate with Him in life. obstacles that seem insurmountable aren't. impediments that we believe disqualify us don't. when we show up to participate with Jesus in the big life, we're participating with the very being who made life in the first place. he gently asks us how we are and invites us to get better together with Him. 

accepting the invitation to show up in life is about moving from the bleachers to the field. it's moving from developing opinions to developing options. it's about having things matter to us enough that we stop just thinking about those things and actually do something about them. simply put, Jesus is looking for us to accept the invitation to participate. it's like the president is calling and we just need to answer the phone. we need to show up.

when we accept life's invitation, it's contagious too. other people will watch us and start seeing life as something more amazing, more whimsical than before. when you show up to the big life, people (the type who don't think they're invited) start seeing invitations everywhere as thick as colorful fall leaves. they don't think about their pain or their weakness any longer. instead, they think about how incredible a big life really is and how powerful the one who is throwing the banquet is too. 

Jesus wants us to come. he's sending His servants out to tell the people standing at the fences and in the libraries that they're invited to the party. He's sending you an invitation too, in the sunrise, in the sound of a bird, or in the smell of coffee drifting lazily from the kitchen. the one who has invited you is way more powerful than any of the impediments we think we're facing, and He has just one message for us. He leans forward and whispers quietly to each of us, "there's more room." **  {bob goff} 

don't you want to live a life that is contagious??!

ahhh...it's been way too long! i have missed my space here so much and the sweet connections it has provided over the past couple of years. so i'm back at it..hoping it can be a more consistent thing in my days.

we have had a cRAzy, FUN filled summer! it still blows my mind that we are s t i l l adjusting. i mean, really?! ohmygoodness...i never imagined it would take SO long. at the same time, i am thankful for this adjustment because we have allowed ourselves more time to bond and be intentional about our {new} normal. it also means that life in uganda was good and we did adjust to the culture and norms there. we did make it home..i know i have said that before but i am still feeling it and am still encouraged by the fact that it did become home in the midst of so many uncertainties.  

our little ones won't stop growing and they keep us laughing. constantly. they have become quite close and act like they have always been together {read..sometimes they fight all. day. long;)}. no but really, for the most part, they are quite sweet but can get a bit crazy.... their antics keep us on our toes!

and just for fun..and because i can .... a few of my favorite summer shots:

so it's been awhile....so many things on my mind but for now, would you join us in celebrating Africa's children??


last saturday was the Day of the African Children 2012. this is a brief description of why june 16 will be forever honored as part of African history::


this goes beyond A Child's Voice, adoption and even beyond uganda..this is about celebrating our brothers and sisters who live across the globe from us..our brothers and sisters who, despite so many hardships, have found hope ..

let's honor the thousands of precious ones who died 36 years ago fighting for something they so strongly believed.

let's stand with the children of africa.

you with me??

i have been meaning to write all of these things down for almost 5 weeks! but life happened and here i am finally getting a chance to spill my first impressions of being back in the states...just 6 weeks after we landed.

we landed in uganda 1 year ago today. hard to believe that one year has passed yet we have only been home for 11 days. the past year has been filled with so many good times and hard times..times filled with anxiety and frustration and times filled with hope and laughter.

i am having a hard time processing all that we have endured the past 12 months because the days were filled with so much emotion. so many good and bad things. so many sweet people that we now have said goodbye to. and to be honest, there hasn't been a whole lot of time to think through things since we landed on US soil.

my time here has been spent trying to help the littles adjust to our new life at home.
the life we longed for.
fought for..hoped, wished and prayed for.

it is a very odd feeling to fight for something for so long and long for 'home' for months on end and then we get home..only to realize that we had made a 'home' for ourselves in kampala..we created a home out of necessity ...  our 'home' may have moved a billion times during the past year and we may have been living out of suitcases the entire time but it was home because our sweet little family was together....i am thankful that this transition is harder than i thought it would be because i think it means that we made the most of our precious time in east africa. it feels right that we sunk down and let our roots seep into the ground. it feels right that we know so much about our babies' first country..it feels right that we had to make our home in their country..that we experienced what they knew as home as our own before bringing them to ours. it feels right that our hearts are forever linked to the country that has so graciously allowed us to care for two precious children that we get to call our own.

what felt wrong** for so long feels so right now and for that..i am so thankful.

**wrong::in the sense that it wasn't what we had planned..not what we expected. not in the bad sense of the word...y'all know we love Uganda and our time there!

...and loving it. seriously.
it is so good...i knew it would be good. .. but i had no idea it would be this good!

we are tired and our house is a complete disaster but honestly, it doesn't matter.
because we are home.
all 5 of us.
ARE HOME.
in america.

can you tell?!
i still can't believe it.

so many thoughts are running through my mind and i will unload in the coming weeks as i continue to process but for now and probably the coming days....pictures will have to do. {i may be biased, but i am pretty sure they don't need any words to accompany them...they speak for themselves...and all of them say one word :: heavenly.}

Dear Friends of the Ribben's Family,

I'm a friend of Sara and Andy's and I've been given the privilege and permission to post here tonight in Sara's place.

I could launch into a really long story here. I could tell you how I first became acquainted with Sara in September of 2010 when she and Andy stepped out in faith to host a fundraiser for our ministry. I could tell you how we maintained our stateside friendship for many months -- and then later spent time together in Uganda. I could tell you about the many ways their story has inspired me. I could tell you how their story has challenged and stretched my faith. I could even tell you about how they've made the most of their time in Uganda by serving and blessing our family's ministry... as well as countless others.

But the truth is, I could be anybody. Because the Ribben's family has literally touched thousands of lives over the last twelve months. They've blessed and inspired and challenged all of us. They've loved us and encouraged us, even from afar.

Their willingness to fight for their daughter and to give up everything for one, single child... well, they've made a serious dent in most of our hearts. They've taught us all a thing or two about faith. And they've demonstrated love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentless and self control... even in the midst of some incredibly trying circumstances.

Friends, now it's time to bless them back.

The rulings are done. The paperwork is complete. The visas and passports are in hand. Sara and the kids are scheduled to fly out of Uganda tomorrow night. But guess what? Their plane tickets expired... TODAY.

They missed their window by only 24 hours and had to purchase new plane tickets. And they were expensive. To the tune of $4300. The family also incurred a number of other expenses related to this short delay. For a total of about $6500.

And this is where we come in.

God's timing is perfect. Although He's never late, He's rarely early. It's clear to me that He intended for those tickets to expire because He had a greater, grander plan. And now we have a chance to be part of it.

If you'd like to contribute to the Ribben's expenses, including their plane tickets and other expenses incurred during these last two, unexpected months in Uganda, please donate by using the Paypal button in the sidebar.

There are no prizes or giveaways associated with this post. Except the satisfaction and joy that comes from being part of a big, fanstastic God story. Friends, please give and give generously -- let's bring em' home.


Please contact Shelly, Esty, Lara, Joy or Colleen with questions. Just comment anywhere on our blogs -- we'll see it.

after 11.5 months of living in beautiful uganda.