Pray for Frances......without ceasing !!!!

Well I must say today has been one of those sappy days, guess you could say i'm fellings a little blue. Frances has been on my mind all day. Driving down the road I heard a new song called Your not alone by: Meridith Andrews, the first thing that came to mind was little Frances and how at times he must feel as if the whole world has forgotten him. I then can hear the Lord telling him "Your Not Alone". That is what I would tell him today if I could. I want to hold that sweet boy in my arms and love him forever.

My main purpose for writing this is to ask all of you to step up your prayers on his behalf. Scott and I have prayed the Lords will be done in his life. If the family that has been trying to adopt him is supposed to have him then we pray for God to fling those doors wide open and if not shut them once and for all. We are also praying if God wants us to be his forever family then open the door for us.

You have to understand this is a very sensitive subject. This family has been trying I think for almost three years now to adopt him, they love him and their hearts hurt. But for some reason it just has not happened. I have asked myself many times is that the Lord closing the doors or is satan standing in their way? I don't know the answer but I do know something has to happen for Frances soon.

He has watched many children come to the ABC and then leave to be with there forever families and he has started to wonder when it will happen for him. All that said please pray for him without ceasing until our Heavenly Father moves on his behalf.

Enjoy the pictures we took of Frances, my favorite one is when he hugged my neck so tight. I think I could have stayed in that moment forever.

Now for a praise report.....Scott and I received our I600A approval letter from homeland security today. We are approved to bring Bennett home. Now we will wait for our court date in Uganda.

I can't say thank you enough to all of you who are praying for us and for the many children of Uganda who have touched our hearts. I will keep you posted on any new information I receive on Frances.

Blessings

Sher

"Bittersweet"

We are home.....What an amazing trip it was. Let me start by saying sorry for not updating the blog while we were away. Pastors Internet was down, the local cafe took forever to work and because of the conference we were not at a place we could sign on. Thanks to all of you who left us messages it was exciting to read when we returned. Well now the most important piece of business would be Bennett......WOW......God is good. He is such an amazing little boy. Scott and I fell in love the moment we laid eyes on him. It is awesome how God works. He is without a doubt our son. We are so grateful for the time the Lord allowed us to spend with him and yet our hearts yearn for so much more. Coming home to our family was a beautiful day and yet it was bittersweet. Scott and I feel torn between two worlds, we have children on each end of the earth and we are standing in the middle, split in our thoughts and emotions.

Leaving Bennett left us feeling as though our very breath had been knocked out of us and yet we felt the same way the day we left Colton, Haley and Hannah to travel to Africa.

Uganda is a beautiful place. The people are amazing, they have a great hunger for the Lord. During the conference Scott and I learned that many people had walked 30+ miles just to hear the Word preached, hoping to get a glimpse of the move of the Spirit. They are so gracious and loving.
There were many times during our trip Scott would disappear on me, I learned very quickly to close my eyes and listen for the laughter of the children and in their midst I would find him. Scott fell in love with the Ugandan people in general but the children captured his heart. Scott gave his food away, his water bottles, bible, pair of shoes and anything else that was not attached to his body. It was a blessing to me to sit and watch my husband serve the Lord in such an unselfish way.
We also had the opportunity to travel to Jinga and visit the Amani Baby Cottage.......heart be still. The children at the cottage were true angels on earth. I had the pleasure of meeting Danyne the director as well as her two daughters who were also adopted from Africa. Most importantly for those of you who have been wondering about Frances..........he is beautiful, healthy, happy and much much more. I must say that was probably the highlight of my trip other than meeting Bennett. I will return to Jinga on my next trip, Frances made me promise to bring him some yellow popcorn and he wants to take a boat ride. I don't know if they will allow me to take him but I would love to and if at all possible I will.
Last but certainly most important I was given the honor of meeting Monica, Bennett's birth mother. She is a beautiful young lady who has a great calling on her life. She is soft spoken with a quiet shyness about her. Scott and I were able to give her a small gift as a token of our love as well as the gift Breanna had sent to her. The only concern she expressed was her financial ability to finish school. We assured her that education was important to us, she is important to us and we would see to it that she always has a place at the King of Kings college. Monica held Bennett briefly, smiled at him and placed him back in my arms. Heart stopping moment.......the love that it must take is more than I can comprehend. She is amazing.
I could ramble on forever about our experiences in Uganda hoping to give you a small glimpse of our time there and how precious the people are but it will be impossible to bring to life what we were so blessed to be a part of.
I will leave you with pictures of Bennett and one of Frances a heart stopping moment when he hugged my neck. Thank you all for your prayers they were felt. Thank you to all of you who looked after our children while we were away. We are abundantly blessed to have family and friends like you.
Many Blessings
Sher

GOING TO UGANDA !!!!!!!!

Praise be to God. Scott and I are going to Uganda. We found out last week we would have to travel twice, so we will be leaving on August 30, for our initial trip.
Though it is very hard to leave Colton, Haley and Hannah we are both extremely excited about meeting our son.
We will have the opportunity to spend two weeks with Bennett while we are gathering the necessary paperwork to move into the final process. We will also have the privilege of being a part of Pastor Dickson's congregation in dedicating the expansion of the sanctuary, orphanage and radio station.
Scott and Cecil (dad) have been very busy this week trying to make all necessary arrangements for us to travel, (thanks dad couldn't have done it without you). My only concern and of course most important question was; will Bennett be at the airport when we arrive; "YES" he will.
We are so blessed to be able to have this time with him.
I will take lots of pictures and blog every chance I get. Pastor has wireless Internet in his home so I should be able to write often. Thank you mom for providing that service to pastor, I don't know how well I would have done at the local Internet Cafe.
Thanks to all of you who have been praying for us. Your love and support mean more than words can express. This is a very exciting time for our family and having the support from our loved ones means the world to us.
Prayer request~
Please begin to pray now for Scott and I as we prepare for our trip.
I am not one who enjoys flying at all so please pray for the Lord to give me peace about that.
Pray for our safety: " FLIGHT", also for our travel in country, I hear they are great drivers.......NOT !
Believe with us for supernatural favor with the many government officials we will encounter.
Health, energy, patients,
"FLIGHT"
Pray that the Lord would direct our paths and use us as He wills. That our hearts would be open to follow where HE leads.
Please continue to pray for Pastor Dickson and Gladys, they are very excited about this convention/dedication, I want it to be perfect for them. Pray for their finances and renewed energy......after all they have been taking care of an infant for 7 weeks now.....just a little sleep deprived.
"FLIGHT"
Anything else you can think of go right ahead and pray it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, now that you have spent 90% of your personal prayer time on Scott and I go ahead and use the other 10% to pray for our "FLIGHT"......LOL
We love you all.

Many Blessing
Sherry

New pics of Bennett

"FINGERPRINT" forms are here.

Praise God the long awaited fingerprint forms are here. Scott and I will be able to go down and have our fingerprints done on Wednesday morning. We received them on Saturday morning and you would have thought we had gotten a box full of Gold. I was ready to go out and celebrate.
As of tomorrow we will be waiting for a package from our lawyer in Kampala with all of the necessary documents Scott and i must file along with Bennett's medical reports.
After that we will be waiting on our I171H (letter of approval). Then we can FLY.
I have spoke to Pastor on a number of occasions in the last couple of weeks. Bennett seems to be doing very well. They tell me he is a good boy accept when he is hungry. I try to call during those times so I can hear him cry, since that is the only way he communicates with me right now. We serve such an on time God. After the bout we had with Homeland Security last week I have to say God is in control. Bennett will be here at just the right time.
I have new pics and I will post them, just remember he has little girl clothes on, not sure why but just go with it. The first three pics are of his birth mother. I have such love and respect for her. It looks as though we will get to meet her when we travel to Uganda. Thank you for your prayers. We need them now more than ever so don't let up.

Continue to pray for Bennett and his birth mother (Monica).
Pray for Pastor Dickson and Gladys
Pray that we get a quick turn around on our finger prints and approval letter.
Please pray that we get a quick court date.....i don't want to be away from Colton, Haley and Hannah any longer than I have to.

Thank you for sharing in this journey with us. It will all be worth it the day we bring Bennett home.
Many Blessings
Sherry

Bennett Adai McGough

What an awesome God we serve. Scott and I received a call last week from Pastor Dickson informing us that he was holding our Bennett in his arms. It was one of the most amazing days of my life. I could hear him crying in the background. I also was laughing, crying and praising God all at the same time. Pastor was ready to talk legal talk but I couldn't wrap my brain around that until I could call Scott and tell him our news.

Pastor called two days later at 2:20 a.m. our time to ask us how to spell his name. He was getting the birth certificate and needed that info. I am still amazed and know that it could only be God that our baby already has the McGough name.

The young mommy that was carrying this precious child came to the realization that she was unable to care for him. She came to pastor and Gladys and handed him over. She said she would like the family from America to raise him. She plans to return to school and further her education.

Pastor and his wife Gladys have been working very hard on the legal aspect of this for us. Please keep them in your prayers. Gladys has been doing late nighters to care for our little guy so please keep her lifted as well.
Pray for our homeland security paperwork to be completed quickly, we won't be able to do anything toward bringing him home until this is complete.
Pray for favor with all that is involved in this decision; judges, lawyers, registrars, homeland officials.
Keep our family lifted as well, please pray that the Lord will give us wisdom and knowledge in the areas we have to walk that is unfamiliar to us.
Most of all pray for the birth mommy. I am not sure at this point what her desires and needs are so just be Spirit led.
Hannah just reminded me that we need to be praying for Bennett as well. Pray that the Lord keeps him safe and healthy.
Jeremiah 29:11 says for I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans of peace and not of evil, to give you a hope and a future.
I do believe His plans for us is to bring Bennett home and be his forever family. Stand with us in prayer to insure no harm comes our way.
Enjoy the pictures, more will be coming soon. We love you all and thank you for sharing in this journey to bring Bennett home.
God Bless
Sherry

Not our Bennett !!!

I finally had the opportunity to speak with pastor.
The two "mommies" he had been talking to have decided to keep their babies. The ladies spoke with their families and were advised to keep them. I know this is a God thing, it is awesome they will have the support they need and be able to raise their children.
This was a different approach than what we were originally taking anyway, so we will continue to wait on the Lord. He has our Bennett in his hands and I will settle for nothing less. I said in the beginning that our Lord had the child for us that was planned before the foundation of the earth. I still believe that.
So for now I have have nothing more to tell you, but will update as more news arrives.
Please continue to pray for Amani Baby Cottage and for the families that have been matched and are waiting for a court date. The Garwood family has received a court date sometime in August so pray for a favorable ruling for them. They are adopting a little boy named Hunter, he turned two today.
Many Blessings
Sherry