Baby Shower Liberian Style!

On May 2,2006 our wonderful church family surprised K (her family is also adopting from AOH) and I with a wonderful Liberian shower. We were both totally shocked and overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and generosity we experienced that evening. The house was decorated with African artifacts, a friend was able to get ahold of 2 authentic African outfits (see below!!), friends prepared African dishes and donated lavishly to our adoption funds . B3 and K's 2 daughters were even able to attend...that also was a surprise. It was great to have our girls participate in this tangible expression of God's care for our families in the midst of our adoption journeys! We were blessed with several matching outfits for B3 and Mercy, Odesco and B4...even matching shirts for all the boys...what kindness was shown!! In addition to enjoying the food, opening gifts and visiting with precious friends, we also had a time of prayer for each of the families...it is a sweet, sweet memory and one day Mercy and Odesco will meet all the wonderful people who participated in this memorable nite'. Below are the touching poems framed by our dear friend, Catherine. The poem on the left is a tribute(written by K) to Hope Nesue who died on 4/12/06 and the poem on the right was written about brother,Jenkins...being adopted by the K family...
check out the "Liberian Cola" also decorating the table :) We have 2 bottles in our refrigerator that we will enjoy upon Mercy and Odesco's arrival.
Below is the cake decorated with pictures of each of our Liberian children.
Enclosed is the poem my friend, Catherine penned for me...as you can imagine, I was all puddles reading this for the first time!! It is pictured below in the frame next to the cake and now sits on our kitchen counter awaiting their arrival~

A half a world away
Sometimes it seems we're so far apart
But half a
world away
is not too far for a journey of the heart

My little ones
I'm waiting for you
My precious daughter, precious son
I know you're
waiting too

A half a world away
My children wait for a family of
their own
While half a world away
I wait to bring them home

My
little ones
I'm whispering a prayer
My precious daughter, precious son,
God's love is with you there.

Fundraising Fanatics!

In our church, there are currently 3 families in the process of adopting. We decided to team together for our fundraising efforts. We have been collecting inkjets, aluminum cans and our biggest fundraiser was a HUGE yardsale (actually 3!!-held in April and May '06). Our neighbors, families and church friends lavished us with an abundance of items to sell ...it took quite a bit of time and energy to price and organize but in the end the Lord blessed our efforts :) The signs above were made by a friend at church(thanks Carabeth!!). Feeling a bit bold, I went to our local Kinkos and asked if they would consider donating the laminating costs to the cause of our adoptions(I was previously quoted a price of $60!)...much to my surprise, the supervisor was glad to do this for us as he himself was adopted...isn't God good?! This man copied and laminated several signs for us to display at the yardsales explaining why we were doing this~ Shoprite also donated a gift card so I was able to purchase coffee cups, sodas, bottled waters, cookies which the kids sold at a snack stand...who can resist buying food from a bunch of adorable kiddos?! Another local store donated baked goods and my Mom baked mini breads for our cause as well. Dunkin' Donuts also participated by donating yummy coffee and donuts!



Above:B2,B4 selling the goods!!!

One of our sales was held at a friend's house whose development was having a community yardsale...the local pretzel factory also donated to our cause!Above are the B's, K's and our friend's the S's who graciously donated the proceeds of their sales to our group adoption fund and allowed us to use their driveway and lawn to sell our "stuff". Below are the girls "playing school"keeping busy as the Moms dealt with quite the influx of customers!!

We are so very grateful for the many donations made...thankyou to all who generously blessed us with your items to sell...you were a means of God's grace and provision to 3 very thankful families bringing their precious children home!!