We have BIG news!
We are pursuing international adoption from South Africa!
We are hopeful and working hard to prepare to welcome a new member into our family. As part of our adoption process, we have started a crowdfunding campaign. It may surprise you to hear that adoption-related costs can easily total up to $40,000 or more. This is why we have set a goal of $30,000 to help ease the financial burden that often overwhelms adoptive parents. Although this is a huge goal, we appreciate gifts of any size - $30 will cover the cost of ordering a document, and $100 will pay for one of our trainings. This is also a lengthy process - we could be waiting for a year or more before we travel to meet our new child (or children!), so if you can't give right now, check back later!
We also covet prayers during this time. Please see updates below, or reach out to us directly to join our prayer team.
We hope that by inviting you into this process, you will see yourself as part of the community we hope to build around our child as he/she grows up. Thank you!
We have been in Johannesburg, South Africa now for one full week. We are mostly adjusted to the time zone, and are enjoying the beautiful birds, trees, flowers, and sunshine. We are also enjoying many "firsts" together as a family of four! Family meals, games, reading stories, movie night, prayers, Sunday worship, grocery shopping, doing laundry, making banana bread, swimming, playing at the playground, home schooling...we've packed a lot of firsts into this week! Treasure has been adjusting so well, and she and Bethany have been playing together a lot. We are doing almost daily homeschool time, with math, piano, and writing, and a smattering of other things depending on how much time we have. Treasure enjoys schoolwork and is very excited to learn piano. Tomorrow is our biggest first of all - we will be going to court to officially adopt! We're all very excited for this big milestone. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support! We have felt very safe so far, but have also been sticking very close to our home base. After court day we will start venturing out more, so continued prayers for health and safety are always appreciated.
9/30
We have safely arrived in South Africa, with all of our luggage, and are settling in to our very lovely rental house. Our first few days here felt very rushed as we were experiencing jet-lag while simultaneously searching for groceries, dealing with a major leak in the kitchen and going to get our sweet Treasure on our second day.
We are now a family of four! There have been small hiccups, but overall it’s been great. We are in the ‘honeymoon’ phase of the transition and we’re loving it! Treasure has been so brave and is warming up to us quickly. We are now settling into a week of laying low and doing daily tasks together. As I write this morning, Treasure is practicing her writing and I am helping Bethany with math.
I slept in until 4:30am this morning. The three original Hixsons have been waking up very early and having tea and biscuits (little coconut tea cookies) while we read. We also have been taking some epic naps.
The country has some big electrical grid issues, so they do regular load shedding, often multiple times per day for a few hours each time. It’s a different pace of life and one I’d forgotten since my time in Uganda. One major difference between Uganda 15 years ago and South Africa today is the improvement of large batteries. Our house has a large battery which allows us, during the short load shedding, to use basic lights and some small electrical items, which means we haven’t needed flashlights or candles yet.
Our court date to officially adopt is set for October 5. Until then, we are still keeping photos of Treasure private within the family, but we have attached an edited one of our “gotcha” day. As you can see, Andi and I couldn’t stop grinning ear to ear. It was so amazing to see the children’s home and meet the people who have been caring for Treasure the last few years. She was prepared so well to meet us, and we are so thankful! The children’s home is called Hearts of Hope, and we are so thankful for them!
We made it! I write to you from our house here in Joburg. I must say, a 14 1/2 hour flight is rough when you start it after a 14 hour day of traveling. That being said, one plane was late 45 minutes. That's it, that's the worst thing that happened. All our luggage made it, we made it, we had short tempers for only 1 conversation. We were fed better and more often than we thought would happen, layovers were very nice, especially in the Denver outdoor lounge, good movies, plenty of leg room on the long flight, and really excellent stewardesses and stewards!
We kind of slept last night, and took long naps midday. We made a foray out into the world twice today, once to the supermarket and once for a late lunch. We are only 5-6 blocks from the market, so we loaded up and carried everything back. Lunch was at a great coffee shop & restaurant where we were able to be out together and relax for a bit and drink coffee.
It's been thunderstorming on and off all day here, with some magnificent booms! Bethany crushed us at apples to apples earlier and we spent a lot of the late-morning unpacking and organizing. Well, It's about bed time for us here. Yes, it's a bit early but we're all close to being on the right sleep schedule already.
Hey all, this is a short one. Andi is done at work, I am done at work, and Bethany is done with school. Whoo boy, this is getting real!
We are home packing, bonding and doing last-minute chores.
For those in Spokane, we'll be at both King's and HCC this Sunday.
We fly out at 5:40am Monday morning!!!!!!!
-Brad
pic is B and a zuc we missed picking this week
Well, I missed posting this past Wednesday. Our days are mostly full-up with stuff, and when they aren't we find things to pack or write or chores around the house. Wednesday was a huge blessing to us. Andi's sister Natalie and Mom Nancy threw her a Treasure Shower (Not a baby shower). Lots 'o Ladies showed up and they had a great time and it was a huge blessing. I, in turn, invited many of the men folk over for cigars and scotch. I also had a good time. It was bittersweet for us both, firstly to see all our friends and know and feel their support in a myriad of ways, but second to know we won't see them for a long while.
It's starting to feel real. I have a full week of work and Andi has 3 days of work this upcoming week, so prayer that we are able to give our employers appropriate time. We have a house sitter, we're winterizing our home, we have some men and their sons who are going to be on work duty as needed while we're out, we're prepping a letter to our neighbors, Bethany started school at the Oaks Friday 9/15 and will get to attend for a week, and so on and so forth.
Thank you all for your prayers and support. We will use every drop of it! TTFN.
