CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT IN THE WORLD AM I GONNA DO WITH ALL OF THIS HAIR?!??!?! I just couldn't resist this picture. My new friend sandy that is loving on Josie Love right now had this on her blog....HILARIOUS!

SO....Gwen and I are launching our first design for our new business 147 MILLION ORPHANS tomorrow! We are SO excited! Our mission is 3 fold...1)to bring orphan awareness 2)help people fund adoptions 3)feed starving children in Africa. How it's gonna work: When you purchase a t-shirt, bag, hat, etc...and wear it people are going to see it and ask questions (awareness). Each time you purchase an item a certain percentage goes to feed a child in the Karamajong tribe that my friend Katie (kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com) works with. And if you are in the process of adopting and want to buy in bulk, we will sell it to you at a wholesale price AND you can use it for fundraising!!!

YOU MUST GO TO OUR WEBSITE....147millionorphans.com

We received an "encouraging word" from Auntie Mary that works stateside with Amani. All of our paperwork is ready and waiting for the judge to give us a court date as soon as the courts open back up next week. I am always amazed at the Lord's timing. MillerAnne is starting kindergarten this year (bittersweet), so I will have my oldest four in school. I should have just enough time to get them adjusted to school and then we head out to get lil Josie Love. I am not going to even think about what the preparation to leave will be like, because my sweet Saviour will take care of all of the details. I have to remind myself of that or I could get TOTALLY overwhelmed. In the meantime, we are doing all of the last minute shopping for uniforms, shoes, dentist appointments, haircuts(x4)......needless to say, mama is a little bit busy.
OH, AND I CAN'T FORGET all of our products for 147Million Orphans are being printed RIGHT NOW!! We are going to have t-shirts, messenger bags, visors feed bags, etc....to bring orphan awareness. Our new designs are awesome. With each purchase you will be able to feed a child in Uganda anywhere for 1 week to 3 months depending on the price of the item....I AM SO EXCITED!!! For those of you who do not feel led to adopt or are at a loss as to how YOU can care for orphans....this is a great way. Buy a product and wear it, bring awareness, AND feed an orphan. There is such a significant need for these sweet children. Our website is being designed, I designed labels for the "stuff" last night, gift cards are being made, business cards are printing...yipppeeee!! Gwen and I are going to be at Maryland Farms YMCA with our products on Monday and Tuesday of next week for those of you who are in our area. You can go to 147millionorphans.com to purchase as soon as our website is up and running to purchase if you are not close by.
There is a sweet girl named Sandy that has been volunteering at Amani and loving on Josie Love the past few weeks. check out these new pics!
Also, I am including some pics of my kiddos that are going back to school....pray for an easy transition.

I love this pics of all of these sweet little children eating their dinner....how precious are they?!

Our affidavit is finished and we should be receiving it tomorrow!  We will then pack up a lot of other "info" that the African government wants to see and fedex it to Uganda.  The courts open back up August 15 (I believe) and our info will be there  waiting for them to give us a court date!!Our prayer is that we will travel to get sweet Josie Love in September.   I AM SO EXCITED!  Gwen Oatsvall (oatsvallteam@blogspot.com) and I have started a new business.  It is called 147 Million Orphans.  We have been working on a website with products to sell to bring orphan awareness.  The past few weeks have left my head spinning.  We have been designing feed bags, messenger bags, t-shirts, hats etc....  Our site should be up and running within the next few weeks. You are going to LOVE our products.   I have been so busy making decisions and making products that I haven't had much time to think about our wait for Josie.  Just yesterday My heart began to ache for her.  There is definitely something to be said for a "mother's love".  Gosh, I already love that little girl with all of my heart.  How is that possible?  It is a God given love that I cannot explain.  Such a miracle that it leaves me looking at my children daily asking "why me Lord?  Why would you "choose me" to raise these lil miracles sent straight from Heaven?"  With each child, I feel more and more blessed. 

Grace here. I am so excited to be bringing Josie Love home. I was lucky enough to get to go meet her a couple of times while we were in Uganda, and I have missed her since we left. I know it may not be easy at first when she gets home, but i know all of us are willing to sacrifice. Please pray for a miracle that we (along with the Oatsvall's and Keck's, who also have custody of their kids) will be able to go in JULY to get her...if not, we'll hopefully be able to go in september. One verse that has stood out to me since returning from africa is proverbs 24: 12, "once our eyes have been opened, we can't pretend we havent seen. God who sees our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act." my eyes were DRAMATICALLY opened to all the children out there that have gone their whole life without being loved, without preants to hug and kiss them, and without anyone to go to when they go through something hard. All this has done is motivate me more to try to bring Josie home, help the Oatsvall's, Keck's, Doyle's, (all three of whom also have legal custody of their children at amani), or whoever it may be to help raise money to bring their kids home, and just try to love on as many kids as possible everytime i go to africa. i am so ready to back, although i wont be making the trip to get josie. :( but i will definately go back sometime, hopefully next year. well i guess that's about it for now. nkwagala nyo!

What a perfect Father's Day for Mike!  We received a a call from Amani Baby Cottage saying that we have custody of Josie Love.  All of our paperwork is completed in the US.  We are now waiting for our  court date!  The next call that we receive will tell us to hop on a flight and go get her.  We think that it will be the beginning of September, but may be sooner.  Be praying for an easy transition into our family.  I am praying for each of my children to form a special bond with her in their own special way. Here some more pics of our sweet lil angel...

I am not sure where to start , so I'll begin telling you about the  
book CRAZY LOVE that I have been reading.  Some of you have read this  
book, and if you have not, I would encourage you to go buy it. (author  
is francis chan)  He does a great job of taking you out of your  
comfort zone and challenges you to figure out what it is that the Lord  
has made you "specifically" to do during your time here on earth.  In  
the end, he poses the question "are you doing what you want to be  
doing when Christ returns?"
All that said, I am going to try to make a REALLY long story
somewhat  
short.  You all know my crazy love for orphans.  There is nothing that  
makes my heart sing more than walking the journey of adoption with  
people.  I LOVE TO WATCH A CHILD WITH NO MOMMY be taken in and  
introduced to their FOREVER FAMILY.  IT is the LOVE of CHRIST right  
before my very eyes.  Perhaps that is what made my heart long to walk  
with Katie while she is in Uganda, because she LOVES those orphans so  
well. (kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com)
3 years ago a mother left her premature infant on the steps of a  
yucky african hospital.  I wish I knew her, so that I could ask "what  
could be so bad that you could drop her and walk away?"  i CANNOT  
imagine the feelings that she must have felt while walking to that  
hospital thinking that she would never see her again.  after leaving  
her, she had continuous reminders of her decision........recovery from  
delivery, milk coming in, who know what else?!?  a hospital nurse  
found the child, put her in the back room, named her Josephine, put a  
kerosene lamp in the bed with her (for warmth), and began feeding her  
mush out of a coffee mug, (there were no bottles because there was no  
childcare facility in this particular hospital)  FOR 10 MONTHS this  
sweet little angel lay in that bed, everyone around her expecting her  
to die.  She never did.  So, they sent her to a baby cottage in  
Jinja Uganda.  She had been there for 2 weeks, and in walks Katie for  
her very first mission trip to Africa.  She instantly fell in love  
with this wee one.  She has droopy eyes because the muscles of her  
eyelids do not work properly. 
While was Katie was there, Josephine got malaria and Katie spent the  
last week of her stay back at the hospital with her sleeping on the  
floor and praying over her without ceasing.  She survived and ended  
back at the baby's home.  At a year old, Josephine could do nothing but lay on  
her back and not bring her arms out past the perimeters of her body.   
She had missed MANY developmental milestones from being in the  
hospital bed for  the first year of her life.  When Katie returned to  
Uganda for her first year to live there, she spent many hours caring  
for Josephine because she was so severely malnutritioned.  She is 3  
years old now, and ON HER OWN  progressed to crawling, playing the  
xylophone, shaking morraccas, but  has limited speech.  Katie had told  
us all about her when we visited Uganda so we could not wait to go  
visit this little miracle on the day that we went to baby's home.  Josephine  
and Grace bonded instantly and I left there feeling like she had a  
"long way to go" to EVER having somewhat of a normal life.  My  
mother's intuition looked into that child and thought "she has come a  
LONG way, but has a LONG way to go" .  Katie has always been so  
hopeful for her and has always said that she believes that she is  
going to THRIVE one day.  I left very VERY doubtful.
Through MUCH MUCH prayer and coaxing from Grace......we have decided