We were enormously blessed when God gave us Presley in April of 2008. She has been SUCH a joy and makes us smile at least 100 times a day! She’s got major spunk and sass, but can be the sweetest thing you have ever seen! She’s brilliant and beautiful and we just love her to pieces!
After 2 trips and 3.5 total months spent in Africa in early 2010, we are SO happy that Moses is part of the family! He’s now five years old, crazy cute and loves life. It feels like he was always part of our family, and we are so blessed to call him ours!
On August 8, 2011 we became a family of five! Elikai is a JOY and reminds us how precious every single moment is. And his perfect little smile melts our hearts… We can’t wait to see how his little personality blooms in the coming years. Oh yeh, and he looks just like his daddy 
Hi Megan,
My family lives in Greensboro NC and I recieved notice of your newest blog today. I don’t know how we are linked and how I got the email notice but we have recently brought home a little one year old from Uganda. I have wanted to network and meet other families who have or are adopting from Uganda and wondered where you and your husband live. You can check out our blog at echoesofzuri.blogspot.com . I hope your bracelets sell well! I would love one! I had a pendant made of africa while in Uganda and am currently trying to find the necklace to wear it on but I love sporting symbols of Africa. Please let me know if you guys are anywhere close to us! God bless your journey. My heart was left in Uganda and we plan on going back to adopt another one….as soon as God lets us know he or she is ready! Gayla
You should think twice about adopting from a foreign country.,,such and Uganda.
Talk to some of the church leaders and families that participated in this back in the 1970 and 1980s in Holland Michigan.
It turned out to be a disaster not only for the familes but for the community.
The town is ruined, huge gang problems, poverty, crime..all directly linked to people who thought they were doing a humane service.
You can not overcome genetics.
Nature over nurture…everytime.
I fear for your daughters safety as years go by.
I know it sounds awful, but it is the way it all works.
Very sad indeed.
Deana-
Your comment is founded on nothing but ignorance. It is not about where a child comes from, it is about the love and upbringing they receive. And even then, many of the people who are leading the march for God in this day and time, are people who once, in their past, contributed to the darkness in their city. It is wrong for you to try to take the joy out of this for someone else. If you can’t be encouraging, or at least educated and constructive in your critisisms, then just shut it.
lol, looking down the thread, it seems everyone else was much more loving in their replies to Deanna, as they should be, I suppose. I feel kinda bad about being so coarse about it! But, oh well, it won’t let me delete it! lol! If it had been said to me, if I were in Meghan’s situation, it would have bothered me a bit, but I would not have even replied. But, when someone is discouraging towards someone I love, I am much more likely to react. But, well done, the rest of you, for handling it better than I did!! =) And I am sorry, Deanna, for having been rude!
Just thought you would want to remove the last person’s comment. I wish I could erase it for you!
God bless you in your adoption!
For Deana: God, our Father, our Creator, shaped and formed each human being. Each of us is unique and special, some with red hair, some with blonde hair, some with black hair, some with peach skin, and some with brown skin, and He says EACH of us are precious and beautiful in His sight! He CREATED peach (white) skin and brown skin – He was the artist that chose these differences! Who are we to EVER criticize the people HE specially designed? We are ALL lovely in His sight. When Jesus was born as a baby, He was born a Jew! He would probably have had beautifully tanned, darker skin, and chocolate brown eyes and black hair! He created all these differences because He loves and delights in our uniqueness! He is AMAZING and each of His precious children are beautiful – no matter what color of hair, eyes, or SKIN!
He is the one who designed genetics – who are we as mere creations of the CREATOR ever question or critisize His creations? I don’t think any of us are qualified to do that!!
Dear Deana,
The color of our skin does not determine who we are and how we will act and the path our lives will take. God made us all with a purpose in mind no matter what color we are. We all make choices, good and bad but it isn’t determined by what part of the world we are from. We all have to answer to God for the choices we make. We chose to raise a child as our own (knowing now that God created her FOR us) so she would not die without care. Her birth parents are dead and no one in her village wanted her. If we all thought the same as you do, there would be millions more children dying each day from lack of care. I’m not worried about our town becoming threatened by the presence of our African daughter, I worry more about ones in our society that feel superior just because of the color of their skin and the family they were born into. I agree with Julie, Jesus himself was of a different race and color but we have have made him “white” to make Him easier to accept. Truth be told, He probably looks more like our new daughter from Africa than myself and our community! Now, I think I will stop writing and go LOVE on our little girl so she will grow up confident in who she is in the Lord and make a difference in HER community!
I am not being ugly, but Deana I believe you might have the spirit of ignorance whispering in your ear. I’m sincerely not being mean, but I have lived in Africa and work DAILY with a largely immigrant population(I teach in the inner city Bronx) and have found that they are typically BETTER behaved than American children. I am hugely patriotic and I loathe “America Bashers” and folks that poo-poo our country because of our wealth, but our parenting HAS majorily gone down the tubes. Most behavioral issues among this new population have clearly been based in culture shock and ill-prepared families; and [brutally] honestly…poor examples set by their American peers…
I know of many American kids who aren’t foreign and cause quite a ruckus here. THEY would be foreign to folks in other countries…but could foreign families judge a child’s genetics based on being from America? …newp. Nationality has nothing to do with genetics. God has ordained an adoption from a particular location and this wonderful family has shown unwavering obedience(bless them!)…we won’t even mention the sacrifice.
Bad parenting is possible in pastoral homes just as much as “bad parts of town” or “third world countries.” I am not criticizing the families that sacrificed for these kids, but I hate to blame the children–or their countries– for something that may have been inadequacy on the part of their adoptive parents. If “bad genes” were the culprit as you say, then perhaps the children were suffering from a mental illness or impaired faculties? Or the families were not equipped to handle the cultural differences that are NECESSARY to address for the child’s proper psychological development. To blame it on their origins is hardly scientific, uninformed, and generalized. If the “whole town was never the same” it honestly sounds like there was little intervention and lots of thrown up hands and self-righteous exasperation.
As far as Nature vs. Nurture…I’m a science teacher and have NEVER in all my studies encountered any literature citing this fact. Please forward it if you know of any. My brother and I are eight years apart and have the same genetics. If you looked at our traits on paper, saw our faces, and saw us together we are almost the same spirit. He was raised with exponentially less discipline; as a result, he had moderate to severe behavioral issues from 2-14 and still has difficulty dealing with emotions. Nurture “wins” in my opinion, because the nature can be dealt with by prayerful, attentive, sacrificing parents. If you’re born with no legs accomodations can be made. Impairments of the mind are harder to spot but require the same dedication and lifestyle modifications.
To adopt from another country is not brag right at a dinner party, it is a tremendous undertaking. This family is not seeking pre-mature haloes or pats on the back, they are following the Will of God. I’m 100% confident they will do an amazing job loving and disciplining their son–yes their son–in the ways of the Lord. I’m also sure they will not force him to pretend he does not have a different heritage and deny him the opportunity to have pride in it. We are all one body, but all different parts. Let us encourage each other in obedience and not misinterpret the trials of life as “proof” of inferiority of other nationalities. Prayers for your “ailing town” and for the family with the “bad eggs.” And for you.
God is great. [What an understatement.]
I am so excited for you and your family! I can’t wait to meet Moses! Maybe one day, my husband and I will be able to adopt! love you!
I just wanted to comment about “race” and “genetics” after reading some of these posts. We are all part of the same “race”! There isn’t a “white” race or a “black” race. There is only one human race, all descended from Adam and Eve, and then again from Noah and his wife, his sons and their wives. We are ALL related! We share genes that are common, and we have some that are different, but we’re still ALL related and precious in the eyes of God.