When your mind is occupied with thanking Me, you have no time for worrying or complaining. If you practice thankfulness consistently, negative thought patterns will gradually grow weaker and weaker. Draw near to Me with a grateful heart, and My Presence will fill you with Joy and Peace....Jesus Calling.

How about these fancy turkey cookies! My sweet friend Julie brought these for Josie's first Thanksgiving at home!



I just had to put a spoon beside this doughnut for you to understand the scale. My friend Rachel brought this GIGANTIC snack for us...does this ONLY happen in the South?



This week has been so much more than I could asked for. Our flights went well. Josie is sleeping all night AND napping at the same time as Caleb and Joshua. She is All smiles and calls each of her siblings by name. (or should I say HOLLERS for them from one room to the next) We have laughed at her continuously. She has such a sarcastic sense of humor. She keeps calling Mike "Uncle" just so that he will correct her. She cuts her eyes over at him and just giggles and giggles. She thinks that my tub is a swimming pool. She is learning ALL about Thanksgiving (check out the cookies that were brought to her by my sweet friend Julie), She LOVES being outside with Caleb, MillerAnne, Annabelle, and Joshua. She is taking more and more steps. She favors pediasure, strawberry yogurt, and chewy chocolate chip granola bars. AND MOST OF ALL, RIDING ON DADDY's FOUR-WHEELER.

Grace and Michael FINALLY loved on their little sister face to face! I am so proud of these kiddos. They speak BOLDLY on behalf of the orphans of this world. The Lord is already using them mightily for His kingdom. I cannot wait to see how they make a difference in this world later in life.
Remember the post on "fancy shoes" for my little angel? Check these princess slippers out! She turned into Cinderella the minute that they were placed on her feet!

Gwen here .... Suzanne missed her connecting flight, so new arrival time is 4:20 NW ... You gotta love a fun journey w/ all it loops and turns !!!! They are almost home !!! see ya there !!!! If you are wanting to send them a meal give me a buzz or email me at s.oatsvall@comcast.net ....

I wish I could post a picture of JLovie and me sitting side by side on the computers, I will try to do it later. I decided to put Dora the Explorer on my laptop so that I could blog on the airports PC. I must say it deserves a photo op. She is singing "backpack backpack". Our first flight was amazing. She slept the entire flight and only cried during the landing. Of course, it was her normal bedtime, so this next one might be a little more challenging...OR NOT...I' m going to be optimistic.

"Worship day" was great as usual. One of my favorite parts of the day is when the children leave with the bag of food she has given them for their family. It is a trail of over 300 children carrying bright green bags on their heads. It is imprinted in my mind. We took a walk to the land that Katie is in the process of buying. It is beautiful! Our hopeful plan is to plant MANY vegetables and fruits, have cows, goats, and chickens, and help the community be self sustaining. Katie and I walked away envisioning what it will look like one day full of food, milk, eggs, fruit etc....for her community. The thought of it just gives me chills. The Ugandan people are just lovely. That is normally not a word that I would choose to describe someone, but they are just...LOVELY!

We are so excited to see our family. I can't wait to get home to cool weather. The thought of just keeping my jammies on all day (i have been known to do carpool MANY a time in my jammies) and letting Jlovie, Caleb, and Joshua play all day is so appealing. I think I'll just build a fire and work puzzles and play trains all day. MaMa is tired of traveling and being away from home.

We had a great day at Auntie Katie's church and relaxing/packing the second half. Leaving was heartbreaking. Christene completely broke down while holding Josie and Katie's girls were crying because they know it will be awhile before i return and were SO sad to see Josie go. We were all just a big ole bucket of tears. I love that family. Katie is doing such a great job with them...they are SO special to me. I am TRULY blessed to have had Katie and her family love on Josie at such a hard time. I am so thankful that God gives us little glimpses of His love for us through other people!

More to come later. I want to grab some food and get to the gate! PRAY!

Tomorrow is the "worship day" for the Amazima kids. That is always a blast and EXTREMELY exhausting! I will post tomorrow night unless the power is out, it will be my last night here....WOOHOOOOOO! Just a few more days and Josie Love is coming home! yippppeeeeee!

little sister LOVES her some muffins! It's as big as her face!
Joseph, Gwen's little boy, I just whispered " your Mommy is coming soon!"
Nicholas, Tara's little boy, can you say "hunk o' love?" Poor Josie...those little eyes just did not want to open that day!

My text from Katie this morning said: I just had a good cry over how much I will miss Josie, how thankful I am for her sweet life and her forever family…I love you guys…I can’t wait to see you!

I am on my way to Uganda. I am bringing my little Jlovie home. The empty stroller that I have pushed through the airport will be full on my way home! I am in a little bit of disbelief…. I can feel the Holy Spirit all around me.

Life has been somewhat hectic the past few weeks. I have blinked and found myself sitting on this plane with my body being drained and my spirit feeling empty. . I am usually pretty good about refueling before the little light comes on, but I have TOTALLY neglected to refuel lately. (complete survival mode) SO, I decided to fill my cup a little bit. I slept for about 4 hours and then opened up my bible, blew the dust off and started replenishing DROP BY DROP.

I have to admit that I have always joked about this “crazy blogger world”. I have actually laughed OUT LOUD at Gwen and Katie when complete strangers have approached us and asked details pertaining to their latest post. I would give them the HARDEST time. I mean, this blogging world really is C-R-A-Z-Y!! I started this blog on our first trip to visit Katie so that our family and closest friends could follow us for two weeks. AND HERE I AM, almost a year later, BLOGGING!

I have received quite a few emails reguarding Josie having HIV. There have been many questions reguarding keeping our “journey” quiet. Some people that already have a child with HIV feel it isn’t in the childs best interest to expose it. Others that are in the process of adopting a child with HIV are soul searching . What IS the best thing for our children? Well, I can’t give any advice on YOUR situation, but for MY situation this is what the Lord has said to ME.

“Don’t begin by traveling to some far off place to convert unbelievers. And don’t be dramatic by tackling some public enemy. Go to the lost confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. TOUCH THE UNTOUCHABLES. You have been treated generously, so live generously. Don’t think that you need a lot of equipment. YOU ARE THE EQUIPMENT…travel light. When you knock on a door, be courteous in your greeting. If they welcome you, be gentle in your conversation. If they do not welcome you, quietly withdraw” (that is the hard part for me!) “Stay alert. This is hazardous work I’m assigning you. You are going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don’t call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove. Don’t be naïve. Don’t be upset when they impugn your motives, smear your reputation and speak of you in public. WITHOUT KNOWING IT, THEY’VE DONE YOU- and ME_- a favor, GIVEN YOU A PLATFORM TO FOR PREACHING THE KINGDOM NEWS. Don’t worry about what you’ll say or how you’ll say it. The RIGHT words will be there, the Spirit of the Father will supply the words!” Matthew 10:10-20 (the Message Bible)

It is by NO mistake that our family is walking this journey. We feel that we are called to speak boldly on Josie’s behalf. We are called to educate those around us on HIV and teach HER that while the HIV is part of her life, it is NOT who she IS. She will find WHO she is through Jesus Christ and CHRIST ALONE.

I have been doing just a little shopping for little cutie pie the past few weeks. I probably should have been at home “filling my cup” but she HAD to HAVE some warm clothes.(heehee) The child has never felt winter. I don’t even think that she has felt air condition (except for in a car, when I am begging our driver for some relief from the heat) . I bought her a little light pink dress and got it monogrammed in chocolate. Seriously, when you live in the south you HAVE to have a few things monogrammed. When I picked it up from being monogrammed, I could have fallen to my knees and cried. (probably would have, but Mike was waiting in the truck and I had to be “a big girl” because I was going to board a plane all by myself and go to Africa and I wanted his heart to be at peace with me leaving) THERE IT WAS…. JML….her initials….her name…Josie Love MAYERNICK. She finally has a LAST name! On her legal forms in Uganda, it says “Josephine”…nothing else, just Josephine. Having a last name gives us a sense of belonging. It tells us where we come from....where we BELONG. I think I might just monogram everything that she has! She has a FULL name, a FAMILY, and a Saviour that CREATED her PERFECTLY.

I am in the process of educating myself on HIV, so as I draw conclusions, I am going to blog them so that we can all learn together!

Here are a few facts that I just read on the plane.

People CANNOT get HIV from:

Kissing

Touching

Sharing a home

Touching toilet seats, telephones, or doorknobs

Eating or playing together

Saliva

Sweat

Drinking or eating after each other

How many times have you heard a baby crying and wonder "what is wrong with that child?" if the crying persists, you start going through the list.... " are they sleepy? are they hungry? are they just mad because they didn't get their way?" As a mother you learn to differentiate between your children's cries.. It is a God-given gift that helps you know how to best care for you child. Visiting Uganda has given me a new perspective of a child's cry. Very rarely do you hear a child crying out in public. The first week that I was there with Josie Love she screamed quite a bit. She did not know me, and she was just going to scream about it until she got to know me. When I was out in town and she would begin to cry, the Ugandan people would approach me and ask"what is wrong with your baby?" ALMOST as often as I would hear "she doesn't see? what is wrong with her eyes?" I would make up an excuse and think to myself "can't you see I am a little busy right now, I have a screaming baby in my arms!" It got to be a little bothersome after the first 10 times that I was asked the same two questions OVER and OVER again. One day in the bank she started screaming (for NO reason) and I was about 10 people back in line. The bank teller stopped to ask "what is wrong with your baby?" and I answered "I don't know, I guess she doesn't like being in the bank?" and they put me to the front of the line! A few days later, while standing in a LONG line, ( NO ONE gets in a hurry over there) I thought about pinching her in hopes that i might get bumped to the front! heehee...just joking!

YEP! I AM GETTING ON A PLANE MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9TH and bringing home my baby girl! AND guess who is walking now? YEP! MY BABY GIRL! Come on! Say it with me....GOD IS GOOD....ALL THE TIME!