"Gotcha Day"

I've been unable to keep up with my blog since I have been gone. Sad times. But I wanted to make a meager attempt to catch up a bit on the last three months of being a mom. That is still crazy to type but it's getting more normal every day.

Recap: In November I was in route to Alabama to visit family for Thanksgiving. I had stopped for a few days in Hattiesburg to visit some dear friends when I got the call that we had a court date and I needed to be in Uganda within a weeks time. HOLY MOLY. Needless to say I did a U-turn and instead of proceeding on to Alabama I headed back to Louisiana to pack and get ready to bring Daizy home.

I got the call on Monday, November 25th and on Friday, November 30th I was on a plane bound for Africa.

We had our first court date set for December 6th but I quickly learned that things never really go as you plan in Uganda....especially when you are dealing with government entities. On December 6th we were left waiting at the court house from 9am until 5pm when we were finally rescheduled for December 17th. I remember how defeated I felt at that moment by this "setback" and my face must have shown it because my lawyer told me that this might be a blessing in disguise.

This picture was taken on our first court date.

On December 17th we returned to court in Arua and were seen by the judge for about 3 hours of questioning. I don't think I breathed the entire time we were in the judges chambers. He gave us a small hope that he might rule that day but then later told us to return on Thursday for the ruling.

On December 19th we returned to court at 9am. It wasn't until late afternoon that the judge scheduled us for the ruling. At 4:01pm Uganda time the ruling was read in an open court room and I was given legal guardianship of Ayiorwoth Daisy. (more on the spelling of her name later)

GOTCHA DAY! I finally had been given the ruling we had been praying and hoping for. For all practical purposes I was now Daizy's mother.

Here is a picture of Daizy not long after the ruling was read.

In fact I sent out a text message to many people that said "IT'S A GIRL. 4:01pm....40lbs and 36inches"...it was the most creative way to let people know it was official. Ha ha!

I thought after Gotcha Day we would be on a fast track home but that was not the case at all. It is now March 8th and we are still in Uganda waiting to come home. I will post more about this later. But this ladies and gentlemen was our GOTCHA DAY. The Thomas family est. 12.19.2013 and it was a good day!

And to top off how precious our GOTCHA DAY was....this was God's sweet gift to this new mom. Only God could orchestrate that one of my dear friends would be on the same continent...in the same country and then in the same town where we were in court that day. Terry, Sara and Emma came by the court house within 30 minutes of our court ruling. Terry and Sara were here visiting their parents, Curt and DeDe for Christmas. Thank you Jesus for this sweet moment and I will always cherish.