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!!

In Memory of Hope K.

Our Hope Nesue

Our hope was to give you a new name, Hope Nesue,
But God gave you a perfect name, Child of God.
Our hope was to give you a better place to live,
But God gave you a perfect place to live.

Our hope was to adopt you into a loving family,
But God adopted you into His perfect family.
Our hope was to save you from a life of hardship,
But God gave you a perfect Savior.

Our hope was to have you “play in the mud” of this life with us,
But God called you to play in paradise with the Perfect Lamb.
Our Hope is in the Lord and His plan is perfect.
We could not hope for a better life for you,
Our little Hope Nesue.

Another baby dies in Liberia

This is the reality in Liberia. This was sent by a friend who had been in Liberia a year ago to bring her daughter home when the baby died in her arms. In this email she relives that experience, only that the baby she is holding now is our friend's the K's baby Hope, they were waiting to bring home. We are striken with grief.

Hello my friends! It is quite difficult to access internet right now.
I took a walk over the trash piles and behind little shanty houses to
find this little haven of generator power with a computer.

A few days ago (they are all blurring into one long day actually) I
had a complete flashback day. A baby was sick at the orphanage, and
we drove her in the middle of the night to the same hospital Brad and
I had brought Ariana 8 months ago. The same incompetenet staff, you
walk into an emergency room and everyone stays sitting, then finally
shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, sigh, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, very
slowly reaching for the faceut to give a sponge bath to this poor
baby with a 106 degree fever and respiratory distress. No oxygen,
several failed IV attempts, and I held this baby's hand as she
looked at me with her large, beautiful black eyes pleading for us to
help her. I stroked her little head as she took her last breath
on this earth and forever went to be with Jesus. The next morning
I wept as we buried her in a dirt hole in the ground, another
precious life lost here in Liberia. One of the grave diggers told
us to drop some money over the grave, as this is tradition for the
grave digger to be able to buy a drink and wash his hands.

We went to a hospital to visit a child who had been tortured by his
father, and saw many more sick children and babies, lying in row after
row with no one to help them. We spent time with a family whose baby
had cerebral malaria and was having seizures and febrile and there
was no doctor, no nursing care, hospitals here seem to be just
places to bring your children before they die.

Today a desperate mother came to relinquish her child to the
orphanage. The grandmother was there also, and she told me she
wishes she could be adopted too, but no one wants to adopt old people.

On the sides of roads I've seen many people and children with limbs
gone, large portion of faces burned off, crippled children limping
along, and the many, many malnourished and lost-looking children.

Last night as we lay saturated in our own sweat in bed (which I
love by the way,the hotter the better as far as I'm concerned) we
heard a gun shot go off. This would be very concerning in the
US, not so unusual here.

I met with some missionaries here and asked, "How do you live here
long term, and continue to love the people without getting disgusted
by some aspects of their culture?" Going on the street in some
areas, you are immediately surrounded by a flock of people with their
hands out, asking for money, water,food, etc. and it is beyond
overwhelming. You want to help them all of course, but handing out
anything in that setting would be a no-win situation, as you would
immediately be surrounded by more people. Then more people. Then
more people.

Today is Good Friday, but here it is "Beat the Judas" day. There are
stuffed people laying all over the sides of roads or up on poles,
and people beat and beat and beat them with sticks in "celebration"
of Judas betraying Jesus. It's a very unusual focus of the Easter
season, but considering what Liberians have been through it is not
surprising.

God bless you all, Jenny

Odesco's Turn!

Hope I'm not driving you crazy with these updates but we just can't help ourselves!!!

New Pictures of Mercy

Hi everyone,

I received these pictures in the mail today and just had to share it with all of you~ B2, my cyber whiz kid figured out how to scan it onto a disc ,then onto my digital camera so we could email it!

Isn't she precious?!!!!

Still no more definate news regarding Odesco's and Mercy's homecoming...will keep you all posted. Thanks so much for sharing our joy!

With thanksgiving,
Mama B (for the whole gang)

Our Official Referral

It is with great joy and thanksgiving that I share our news...we are so excited to be adding Odesco Kaiwen and Mercy Stephen to our family through the miracle of adoption. As you may have noticed, they do not share a last name...we had intended to adopt siblings but the Lord in His wisdom has chosen these 2 unrelated children to join our family.

We have had all of our needed approvals in place since January 28th but there have been no siblings in the orphanage that fit the ages we felt we were supposed to adopt. Last Saturday evening, a representative from Acres of Hope contacted us and asked us to pray about these precious children. As we prayed, we sensed that this was indeed the Lord's will for our family. The only thing we were waiting for was Mercy's medical clearance which we received yesterday morning :)

B1, B2,B3 and B4 are very excited about their new brother and sister. They have been praying daily since August ,"Please help the people at Acres of Hope to know which children are to become a part of our family." Last week when we were still waiting for Mercy's medical clearance, we were having our devotions and reading about the mercy of God. The key verse for last week "happened" to be Micah 6:8

"He has shown you O man what is good;And what does the Lord require of you but to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"

At this point they all agreed, "We'll love Mercy!! See, we are supposed to adopt her!!

Too cute!! This am on our way to church B3 said," Mom, God chose Odesco and Mercy to be a part of our family before He created the world...just like He chose us!"

This same devotional that I mentioned above just "happened" to focus on the whole concept of being adopted by God and the fictional family in the story "happened" to be adopting a little girl from China. I had no idea this would be the focus when I purchased this book...how kind of the Lord to prepare our hearts in this way and to allow the kids to see that this was His plan for all eternity!! I am amazed (although I shouldn't be...He is a BIG God!!) at the Lord's attention to every detail...even Mercy's name! We are still seeking information regarding the Liberian meaning of Odesco's name. We hope to keep it ..most likely as his middle name and we hope to give Mercy a Liberian middle name as well.

Well, I guess you'd like a few more details about the children. Odesco is 2.5 yrs old and has been at the orphanage for 6 months..basically in the past several months, other adoptive families have requested infant boys or siblings . We know the Lord was keeping him there for us!! I can only imagine the fun and creative things( ie: mischief!!) he and B4 will get into together!! Mercy is 4.5 yrs old and she entered the orphanage about 3 weeks ago. The representative from Acres of Hope met her and said that her countenance fits her name... We have to agree after seeing her picture. What a beautiful smile!!

We don't know yet exactly when the children will be traveling home~ We plan to have them escorted to the States (possibly Chicago or Minneapolis with a slight possibility of Dulles. Things seem to go quite quickly from this point on with Liberian adoptions so there is a slight chance they may even be here by the end of April!! As you can imagine, we have lots to do before they get here. B4 and B3's rooms are being redone(repainted/bunkbeds/closet organizers,etc) so my husband is a busy man!!

Last week we packed up Odesco and Mercy's travel backpack to send to the AOH Wisconsin office so that it can be taken to Liberia for the trip home. We had fun stuffing it full of clothes from B3 and B4's hand me downs, snacks and a few toys to keep them occupied on the 30 hour flight. Our next project is to work on photo albums for the 2 of them so that the "aunties" (female caregivers in the orphanage) can introduce them to their family here!! I am looking forward to making mini-scrapbooks for them:)

We are also busy pricing items for a huge fundraising yard sale we hope to have on 4/22 with two other families in the process of adopting, the K's and L's. We have been lavished with everyone's generous donations :). Thank you all for your generosity!! Needless to say, I don't think we'll be bored in the days of preparation ahead.

Please pray for continued grace as we work out all the details, finish the many household projects, continue with a full homeschool schedule ,etc. Please also pray that the Lord would prepare our precious Liberian children and us for the major transition ahead. I will update as we get more information.