Hutcheson February Update

We wanted to post our most recent newsletter on the blog today since it has some great pictures. Many of you are not on our newsletter mailing list and only catch up with us via facebook and our blog so we wanted you to have a chance to see some of our recent pictures. If you'd like to be added to our mailing list feel free to click the link below. We'd love to have you on our team!

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Update from Drew and Amber Hutcheson Serving with International Justice Mission Kampala, Uganda

Dear Friends and Family, We've been in Uganda for nine months now! Can you believe it? Time has sure flown by and we are sad to think that our time here will be ending in a few short months! Our last nine months here have been filled with times of excitement as well as some times of difficulty, with times of rest and yet with some tiresome times. The Lord has been with us every step of the way, though, and we have learned to lean on Him like never before! Below we've posted some recent pictures to show you a little bit of what our life has been like lately. We hope it will give you a taste of what we're up to! Thank you for being a blessing to us, Drew, Amber, Isaiah, & Baby Girl Praise: - WE HAVE A COURT DATE! We were given a court date of March 21st to obtain legal guardianship of our daughter! We are so excited and praising the Lord that we finally have a date! This means that soon we will be able to share pictures and details with you! - Drew's dad, aunt, and cousin are coming to visit for two weeks from the end of February to the beginning of March. Anyone who has ever lived overseas knows how exciting it is to have visitors!! We are so looking forward to spending time with them, along with showing them around Kampala and introducing them to the newest member of our family! - In the department that Drew works in at International Justice Mission their goals for 2012 were exceeded in regards to how many people they helped in legal education clinics, will writing clinics, and victims of property grabbing!! Prayer: - Please pray that our court date would go smoothly and that we would soon have legal guardianship of our sweet daughter. Also, after the court date we need to apply for a visa for her to come to the U.S. on. Please pray that this would be granted without a problem. - As busy as IJM was in 2012, they have even more complex goals for 2013 that they need to achieve in order for IJM to meet their grand goal of ensuring the public justice system works less corruptly for the vulnerable by 2017. They have a a lot of work ahead of them and it keeps Drew very busy but they believe strongly that their goals can be met with God's help! - Please pray for us as we make plans to return to the U.S. in June. We will soon be announcing more details as to where we will be moving and what God has in store for us in this next chapter of our lives! Getting chicken on a stick is one of Drew's favorite things! You pull the car over on the side of the road and tons of people literally run over shoving chicken, bananas, water and other things into the car for you to buy! Have to use the bathroom? Here's what you'd use if you were out in the field with Drew! Except this is a really nice one...most are just holes in the dirt! Make sure to slow down for cows crossing the road! A church out in the field where Drew preached at last Sunday. What can't a boda boda (motorcycle taxi) carry? We've seen fans, chickens, 4 people, and even a cow all on different bodas while here! This one is carrying lots of jerry cans. Since we can't drink the tap water here, this is how we get our drinking water! Each day we fill up the blue bucket with tap water which drips clean water out through a filter into the jerry can which we then use to fill our water pitchers in the fridge! Fried grasshoppers, anyone? Our dilemma is, should we eat it butt first...or turn it around so the eyes are staring at us as we pop it in our mouths? Cereal is expensive here! Cornflakes are $8.40 for 750g and $10.80 for 1kg! And rarely any sales!

Copyright © 2012 International Justice Mission, All rights reserved. You are receiving these e-mails because we think you may be interested in keeping up with our work in Uganda with IJM! If you wish to unsubscribe please see the link below. Our mailing address is: International Justice Mission Drew Hutcheson P.O. Box 70445 Kampala, Uganda Visit our blog at: www.thehutchesonheadline.blogspot.com Call us: 231-709-9633 E-mail us: Drewamhutch@gmail.com www.ijm.org unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

Adoption Q & A

Lately we have been asked a lot of questions regarding our adoption from Uganda. We thought it might be a good idea to write a blog post and try to answer all of your questions at once! So, here it goes!

Why are you adopting?

The Lord laid adoption on both of our hearts many many years ago. For Drew it began with his seven mission trips to the Philippines. He spent a lot of time volunteering at an Orphanage there called Uncle Dick's Home. The idea of adoption began to be impressed upon him and he knew it was something he wanted to consider once he was married.

The Lord laid adoption on my heart when I was just a teenager too! It began with the adoption of my two little sisters. When I was 13 years old I began praying that my parents would have another baby. Ha! My parents' reaction? "Yeah right!" =) They had four children (I am the oldest), my youngest brother was 6 years old, they were out of the diaper/sleep training/toddler/potty training stage and they weren't going back! So, I switched my tactic a little bit and stopped asking and just began praying that my parents would adopt. I prayed for this for three years and it seemed the Lord was going to answer my prayer with a 'no.'

When I was 16 years old, my family and I were living in Uganda, and my mom and I were volunteering at Nsambya Babies Home in Kampala. I had a special baby there named Martha that was "my" baby every time we would go. I developed a love for this baby and I began praying that my parents would specifically adopt her! When she was 8 months old, I went away to a birthday party, only to come back and find out my mom had brought this little baby home. I was ecstatic! My hopes were dashed, though, when I found out that we weren't keeping her. She was terribly sick and we were just going to nurse her back to health and send her on her way. I began some serious praying at that point! My parents had gone from a resounding "NO WAY!" to actually bringing a baby into our home. I knew this had to be it!

The doctor said Martha wouldn't live through that night...but she did! And as my family nursed her back to health, we all fell deep in love with her. And, as you all have guessed by now... we decided to adopt her. Today Janae Martha Ann is a beautiful, smart, thriving almost 11 year old- God's gift to our family. A year later my family adopted another little girl- 2 month old Naomi- from Sanyu Babies Home. Today Adelynn Naomi is a beautiful, smart, thriving almost 9 year old- God's gift to our family!

Janae and Adelynn several years ago.

So, to answer your question, the Lord laid adoption on both of our hearts at young ages. We talked about adoption before we even got married and before we had Isaiah. We feel that all Christians should consider adoption. Maybe not all can- but all should honestly seek the Lord and consider it.

When an opening with International Justice Mission opened up in Uganda (of all places!) and we decided to move our family there, we felt the Lord's hand directing us to adopt while living there. We plan to keep adding to our family both biologically and through adoption in the years to come!

When will you adopt?

We plan to start the process soon after we arrive in Uganda. But adoption is not a simple process! Once we identify the child we feel God wants us to adopt, it may be months before we can bring him/her home with us and obtain legal guardianship. In order to finalize an adoption in Uganda you must live in the country for three years. Since we only plan to be in Uganda one or two years, we will obtain legal guardianship in country and finish up the final adoption once we get back to the States.

Which agency are you going through?

We are doing what is called an "independent adoption." This means that we are not using an agency to complete our adoption. With an independent adoption you handle the details yourself. We will hire our own attorney, work directly with the orphanage or entity we adopt from and will handle all the paperwork, travel details and all the other many details on our own!

We used a wonderful agency called Families Through Adoption to get our home study completed but now that that is done, we are on our own! We are a part of a great Facebook group which helps to answer lots of questions, my parents adopted from Uganda, and we feel that being physically on the ground in Uganda will help us wade through the (at times) confusing process!

How much does it cost to adopt from Uganda?

In general, families spend around $15,000-25,000 to adopt one child from Uganda. Costs vary greatly based on plane flights and whether a family chooses to adopt independently or with an agency. We hope to cut these costs down quite a bit by being in country already and choosing to adopt independently.

How old will your baby be?

The truth is, we have no idea! We do not have a specific baby identified yet. Once we get to Uganda we will begin this process. We are approved for a baby up to one year of age so our child could be anywhere from a couple of months up to 12 months old.

Will you adopt a boy or a girl?

We are actually thinking about adopting both! We are approved to adopt two children and we definitely want to keep that door open should the Lord want us to walk through it. We are ultimately open to the Lord's will concerning every area of our adoption.

What will you name your child(ren)?

This is one question that we know the answer to but cannot share! (Sorry!) =) We have both a boys name and a girls name picked out...but you will just have to keep checking back to find out what they are!

There are so many uncertainties before us and sometimes we feel anxious about it all. We are anxious to meet our baby, anxious to bring him/her home, and anxious to see how the adoption process will go... There are so many unknowns before us but we are comforted in the fact that we know THE ONE who knows everything!

So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

We love to talk about our adoption and to offer advice to anyone interested in adopting from Uganda! Although we are at the beginning stages, we can tell you what we know so far....and we can learn the rest together! Please e-mail us at Drewamhutch@gmail.com if you would like to talk!