Saturday, January 31, 2009

Yes we're waiting....

We have had the news confirmed by the Ministry in Liberia that currently all adoptions are on hold. Many orphanages have been closed, many children returned to their parents in Liberia. Liberia is saying that by February the new laws will be in place and adoptions will begin again. Our lawyer has offered a solution to the government in Liberia to help fix many of the issues they are facing. Our agency believes that adoptions will again be taking place, as many of these children need a home, but we are not holding our breath that by February it will all be resolved.

On the home front here we continue to wait. We are not waiting on the government of Liberia but on the Lord. He is truly in control and in His time His will be done. Many wonderful friends have emailed and called reminding us they are praying with us and for us, but more importantly for the little ones in Africa.

So we are waiting...may I encourage you to also wait on the Lord? Whether your marriage is hurting, your finances are slim, you are in need of a job...wait on the Lord!

Psalm 27:14
"Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD."

Psalm 33:20
"Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield."

Psalm 40:1
"I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry."

Isaiah 40:31
"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

Lamentations 3:25
"The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him."

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While I'm Waiting.....



I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord

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Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Sad News

On Thursday I received news that the government of Liberia had closed down six orphanages because of misconduct. Our orphanage was not one of them and as of Friday things were still moving ahead although slowly.

Tonight I read a speech given today by the President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Here is a quote,"The gross mismanagement of the adoption program (which aims primarily at placing orphans in homes in the United States), by both Liberian and U.S. personnel in the concerned NGO is the subject of a report by a Special Committee which I appointed for this purpose. Essentailly, we have discovered that many of the children in these orphanages are not in fact orphans but children taken from thier living parents on the promise of support and a good life in America. Morevoer, we found that young children were being sexually abused at some of these orphanages, while others including officials of government, have used the program to extort money from potential adoptors. We have thus suspended the adoption program until laws, policies, and proper guildlines have been estabished and we have asked our concerned friends and partners in the United States to be paitent as we try to correct the serious malpractices which exist. We expect the National Social Welfare Policy and National Adoption Act which will be submitted to you during the course of the year, will provide guidance and prevent such abuses in the future. "

I will be speaking with our agency tomorrow to gain a better perspective. One positive is that our lawyer in Florida has a very good relationship with the Ministry Department over adoptions in Liberia.

We will continue to trust the Lord! May His will be done! Please continue to pray for the healthand safety of the children in Liberia.

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Sunday, January 18, 2009

Homestudy Arrived!!

Friday our homestudy arrived from Options 4 Adoptions. We had a hold up on our employment verification letter. Now it is all complete and a copy has been sent to the United States Citizenship Immigration Services.

This week we will accomplish a list of items for our dossier. I also have to get a medical waiver to release me from the yellowfever vaccination. Because Abigail is still nursing we are choosing to ask for a medical waiver allowing me to be exempt from the vaccine. Andrew will still get the vaccine, but will also do as much as possible to boost his immune system before hand. We are working with our Doctor to do all that we can to keep us from getting ill while traveling.

We are still working on finishing our fundraising. We know that the Lord will provide the needed money.

Andrew went to the sporting goods store this week to check on prices of soccer balls. We would like to take some dolls and soccer balls to the children in the orphanage. If any of you know a store that would be willing to donate please let me know.

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Friday, January 9, 2009

New adoption timeline

Those of you who know me know that I like calendars and organization. I like to plan and schedule. And those of you who have adopted know that plans and schedules are not very reliable in adoption. When we began this adoption I had all my ducks in a row. I had ordered everyone's birth certificates, made copies, lists of paperwork needed; but when you deal with a fourth world country you must be flexible. My husband has been teaching me flexibility for seventeen years! Now I get to practice it.

On the left you will see a timeline of our adoption process. I will be updating it regularly as we go along.

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Thursday, January 8, 2009

Apostilles arrived!

Today I received the notarized and apostilled birth and marriage certificates from California. For those who don't know, an apostille is a statement attached to a document verifing that the notary is a licensed and is official in that state. All of our documents going to Liberia will need a notary stamp as well as an apostille.

Our documents come from all over the country and half way around the world. Thankfully I was informed to start ordering these documents early. I sent Andrew's to England before Thanksgiving. I then had to send two of our children's certificates to Washington State, four to California as well as my birth certificate, our marriage certificate and Andrew's naturalization certificate to California.

Today I received the last of the certificates from outside Georgia. I will now need to get all the paperwork we have...physicals, financial documents, employment verification, and reference letters notarized and taken to Atlanta to be apostilled.

We are waiting for an appointment with the Immigration Services to get our fingerprints taken. After that we should receive the approval of our I600a, petition to adopt internationally. This and our other documents will be sent on to Liberia in what is called a dossier.

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Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Questions.....

I have received a few questions from readers over the past few weeks.

1. Yes, our children have someone to stay with them in Georgia while we travel. Andrew and I do not want to leave our other children for a week but we feel that it is important to our new daughters that we both travel to Africa to pick them up, as we'll see their homeland. It is our desire to bring a little bit of Africa into our home, much the way we have done with Andrew's British heritage. Our children will be well cared for!

2. While we are planning on adopting two little girls from Liberia we have left our homestudy open to three children. Many times a sibling will come into the picture or a special child will touch the the hearts of those adopting....we want to make sure if that happens we will have all our paperwork in order, should the Lord choose.

3. We are very open to whichever children the Lord should see fit to bring into our home. While we as parents pray for healthy happy children, we also realize that most of the children in Liberia are not healthy due to lack of nutrition. Much like having a biological child we are waiting on the Lord as to whom He would have us bring into our home.

4. Yes these children will be our children forever. Adoption is a wonderful picture of how Christ chose us in our unworthy state to be His forever! We will raise these children as our own daughters. We will love them dearly. We will also tell them they are chosen. We will celebrate their African heritage.

5. Yes we are open to more biological children. This seems to be the most popular question lately. We are open to all the children God would chooses to bless us with, biological or adopted. Being in my early thirties we trust the Lord will bless us with many more children to raise for Him.

6. No, we do not live in a mansion and we are not rich monetarily. When we started this adoption last December we lived in a 2300 sq ft house with three bedrooms. We had six boys in one bedroom and the girls in another. We began to pray that the Lord would expand our boundaries and enlarge our family. In March we began looking at farm for sale. In April Abby was born and in June we moved in to a home more than twice the size of our old house. We have five bedrooms and four bathrooms, plus a huge unfinished basement! Two girls rooms and two boys rooms, plus a large master bedroom with room for several babies! As for the riches we are blessed beyond measure. Andrew works two jobs. During the day he works in corporate America. Evenings and weekends he runs our commercial poultry farm. We have five chicken houses and raise broilers for Pilgrim's Pride. Every eight weeks we get new baby chicks. The children and I help run the farm during the day. We are praying that God will allow Andrew to quit his other job this year and work from home full time.

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Sunday, January 4, 2009

Happy New Year

Our family had a wonderful Christmas. We are trusting this will be the last Christmas without our beautiful little girls from Liberia in our home. Next year we are thinking about celebrating the 12 days of Christmas, allowing each child to have their own special day to open a few presents prior to Christmas day.

As we begin this New Year please partner with us in helping the children of Liberia. In February we will be hosting a golf tournament in Woodstock, Georgia. If you are available we would love for you to participate. The money raised will be used to cover the cost of the Liberia fees to bring our daughters home. We anticipate having corporate and small business sponsors as well as those participating in playing a round of golf.

If you would like more information about our golf tournament or to help us coordinate the tournament please email us directly. You will find our email address in the profile.

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