Responding In Faith

Our wonderful friend and sister in Christ, Joyce Hostetter brought us dinner today. She brought us a soup called West African Groundnut Soup. This is a family recipe that appears in the cookbook More-With-Less. My boys were so excited when they figured out what was in the crock pot. Samuel sat down at the table with his big bowl of rice and soup and looked at me with a big smile and said, “Grumpy soup!” Well, that was what I thought he said. So Anthony pipes in and says, “So peanuts in Liberian are called ‘Grumpy’?” Oh, we are so excited. We just figured out a “Liberian” word!!!

Well, in all the excitement, I called mama Kathleen and asked her where the recipe was at in the cookbook and I shared with her the name of the soup in Liberian. Well, I felt a bit foolish or silly or something. “Are you sure he didn’t mean Ground Pea soup?” Well, sure enough, that is what Samuel said! Although I like the sounds of Grumpy Soup better!

The soup is made with peanut butter and is rather delicious. The thought of eating peanut butter soup sounded kind of odd to me, but it really was rather delicious. So now we have a new recipe to attempt to make! I guess you could say we became a little more “Liberian” today!! Our horizons are expanding beyond our little world here in Hickory, NC!

I have been asked by a friend of mine (more bridges) what types of foods would be good to have the first week her boys arrive home. I thought this would be a good place to post! Sardines have been a must! I buy a case a week at Aldi!! Rice, rice, and more rice! Chop up veggies very small and they will eat. Fried rice has been good. Chinese food has been a big hit. Teriakki chicken. Chicken wings. Anything with chicken. Chicken and rice with veggies chopped up very finely. The discovery of chicken soup in a can was very exciting to Samuel as well. Just a little soup over the rice and he is happy! Spinage balls. Spaghetti. Chile served over rice. Beans and rice. Anything with rice is two thumbs up. We just keep rice in the rice cooker all day long. Anything they put over rice they call soup. Gravy over soup is another thing that is good. We had made turkey and gravy and served it over rice.

Well, there ya go! Bon Appetite!

As Jeremiah begins to recover from his malaria, he is getting renewed strength!  I have a feeling that when he was in Liberia he was a very sick little boy.  He didn’t have a lot of energy.  On his good days he laughed loudly.  On his bad days he curled up in a corner.

One thing we noticed right from the beginning was that Joel has taken advantage of his brother’s sickness.  Although Joel is the younger of the three, he has managed to “bully” his bigger brother.  Jeremiah never had the fight in him to stand up for himself.  Jeremiah is a little more laid back.  He takes what is given to him.  No complaints.  A simple nod of the head means he is ok with whatever you just told him.

Well, after being home almost a month, Jeremiah has gained renewed strength.  Joel’s taunting and teasing are things of the past.  Jeremiah is ready to fight back and he is fighting hard!  Joel has been taken back by Jeremiah’s renewed energy level.  This week I have broken up countless fights where Joel is left crying in agony.  It is not that Joel has been hurt.  Joel has just not expected his brother to defend himself. His pride is hurt more then anything.
Most of the time Joel ends up wailing very loudly.  Sometimes 5 minutes; other times 30 minutes.  He is usually placed in his room where he can wail as long as he needs to.  Then he will slowly come downstairs.  We can at this point discuss what has happened and apologies are tossed out.  Then it is like nothing ever happened.  The two play together as if they are the best of friends.

Joel does not want to give up his position of authority, but the reality of it is, he has lost it.  Jeremiah is ready to be the big brother to Joel again and he is not going to take any of Joel’s bullying.

So among the many hats that I wear throughout the day, mommy, business woman, coach, chef, teacher,wife, doctor……….I now officially add referee.  Actually, I have worn this hat for awhile, but I can officially say that I now need the whistle as I have never really had the physical fighting to break up!  But they are learning.  I am learning.  We are all working together to live in harmony.

I pull my strength from my Lord.  I pull the strength from my Lord onto my children.  I am encouraging them through scripture and blessings each day.  I love our big family, although the funny thing is, it doesn’t seem so big.  If I didn’t have the piles of laundry covering my pool table, I don’t think I would really realize how many children we do have!

So I end this day on a good note.  Everyone is sleeping.  No one went to bed angry.  There was laughter and good cheer as we closed the evening.  Tomorrow is a new day!  Yes, I will have to play referee again…I am sure of that!  But tomorrow we will all be a little more prepared and hopefully Joel will realize that his big brother is NOT going to take any more bullying!

Well, last week the girls and I were preparing to go to the beauty shop to get trims and some well deserved “mommy pampering”.  I thought it was going to be an all girls event, but soon realized that my Liberian boys were in the vehicle with us.  My other two knew better then to jump in the car when the girls were planning an afternoon of beautifying!!

I kept telling the boys that they would be bored.  They really didn’t need to go.  But they really did need to go.  This was something new.  So the girls voted and decided to allow the boys to come along.  They amaze me when watching them.  Everything is so new to them.  They laughed at mommy getting her hair painted (high lights).  They thought the chair that went up and down was really neat.  The blow dryer was the coolest.  Joel commented that he wanted hair like mommy’s.

(Just a side note.  Joel LOVES to play with my hair.  He thinks it is the neatest thing.  His hands are constantly in my hair.  I guess I do have plenty of it to play with!)

Thanks to Dana, our hair dresser, she made the boys feel like royalty.  After completing the girls, she let each of the boys hop up in the chair.  She shaved their necks.  Used the blow dryer on them.  Sprayed their hair with some “shine” and they were smiling from ear to ear.

Here are pictures of the end results:

Joel Elijah with the hair he has always wanted!

My always laughing Jeremiah David!

Handsome Samuel Jeffery modeling the seasons newest hat!

Yes, my Liberians have quite the sense of humor!  They keep all of us on our toes and laughing the entire day.   They bring me much joy.  All of my children bring me joy.  Don’t get me wrong, we have our rough days, but the good ones far out number the bad.

I will always remember this particular trip to the beauty shop!  It was such beauty for my soul!

Ok.  We recently shared a great movie, The Martian Child.  We had dinner with some friends a few evenings ok.  They told me they watched the movie.  The comment that stuck out in my mind was, “He was a little extreme.”  I didn’t get to follow up on that comment, but as I thought more about that, I felt like I needed to elaborate a little more on that comment.  If you haven’t seen the movie, it is about a widowed husband who follows through with an adoption plan that he and his wife had planned to do when she was alive.  The child that is matched up with the main character of the story has some real attachment issues.  The child covers up a lot of his pain by saying that he is from Mars.  When watching this movie, you have to realize that this takes place over time.  And yes, the reality of what happens in the movie is reality.

I wanted to tell our friend, “Welcome to my world.”  None of my adoptive children think they are from Mars, but they do carry similar baggage that the young boy carried in the movie.  When you look at our family, there are many things that you don’t see.  Things that happen behind closed doors.  Deep wounds that they don’t even know how to comprehend.  We work through all the issues.  Sometimes we have to go through counseling.  Sometimes (all the time) we are just covering things in prayer.  Some days I am totally exhausted.  People only see half the story.  But the rewards are oh so worth it.  Healing takes time.  Healing takes years.  But healing does take place.  Each child is different.  Some of them are very cyclic in their moods.  I hear comments sometimes about how nothing is wrong with the kids or that I don’t treat them all the same (meaning bio versus adoptive).  That really gets to me.  Each of my children (and by the way, they are all mine…all my beautiful blessings from God) are unique in their own special way.  Each has their own personality and there own set of baggage.  Each is going through healing in different ways.

I have seen such growth in all my children.  It absolutely amazes me.  God has special plans for each of my children.  God is so good.

Ok.  That is it!  Sorry its not very philosophical.  It is just the nuts and bolts of my life.  Nothing too fancy.  Just our family and our journey.

P.S.  I don’t mean to sound so off the wall.  I just realized that is the way my past two posts sound.  Maybe my mood.  Maybe I am just tired and should be in bed! ;)  Sometimes comments get to me when I shouldn’t let them.  Sometimes I get hurt by comments and this is how I deal with it.  Ok.  I just made my life an open book!  But this is my life!  I am so glad that I have my heavenly Daddy watching over me and guiding me on this journey!

Ok.  I want to make this public knowledge.  I have had so many people ask me if the boys are “doing” school yet.  The beauty of home schooling is that everyone can go at the pace they are ready for.  I don’t teach like the public schools.  I don’t “force” reading on the child, I wait until they are ready.  When they are ready…they take off!  I want my kids to love learning and that is exactly where they are…loving learning.  My kids are learning things that really matter in this life.

For my Liberian children, every day is a learning experience for them.  My boys have come from a place where they had absolutely nothing.  They are learning about life.  How things run in a country that is not war torn.  How to get a long with their new family members.  How to communicate.  Learning that they can’t have everything at Walmart.  Learning that we don’t need to fight over our food…there is plenty!  They are learning the word “NO”.  They are learning what it means to be surrounded by a family that loves them.  They are learning the morning routine.  They are enjoying bubble baths.

They are learning why bicycle helmets are so important.  They are learning about their new family history.  They are building stick houses in the woods.  They are playing in the creek.  They are learning that it is ok to be just a kid. They figured out how to warm up their food in the microwave.  They know that mommy will always have rice in the rice cooker.  We don’t leave open cans of sardines in the pantry.  UUHHGG!

We are learning that the simple one nod of the head means yes.  Laughter is the best medicine.  Communication is so important.  We know absolutely no Liberian English!  Salt is an essential on the table.  Pouting is ok.  Wailing isn’t that bad.  I need a referee whistle at times.  Rules are important.  Liberian hugs are great!  The smiles are even better!   I think we should have named Jeremiah David, Jeremiah Issac instead.  He is so full of laughter!  Joel is still a baby.  He needs to be cooed over.  Jeremiah wants to be babied, but is holding back.  Samuel loves hugs from his mommy!

The rest of the family….well, they are right along for the ride.  Learning doesn’t just come from textbooks.  It is ok for us not to be going full force at this time.  We are all still learning and are being educated.  So please don’t judge us for what you think we aren’t doing.  We have been learning quite a bit this past month.  We have some exciting days in our house.  And yes, learning is taking place.

So please don’t pause and look at me in disapproval when I tell you that the boys have not dived into their new school books yet.  Please don’t give me that disappointed look when you hear that we are doing “part time” school.  Think about it.  We just gave birth to three beautiful Liberian boys.  Not too many months ago, we gave birth to two beautiful American beauties.  We have added five beautiful children to our family in less then a year.  Life continues to move forward.  We continue to grow as a family.  We grow closer to God.  We learn more about God each day.  My children are preparing for life.  We are preparing them for work that will glorify God.  This is what we feel is important.  This is where God is calling us.  That is our story.

This is from a friends blog.  She is asking that this be shared with those who will help.  Be prepared to cry.  Be prepared to ask God where you fit in with this!

Uganda Baby Orphanage

Here is a perfect opportunity to care for children who need it desperately….

About a week ago I received information about an single American woman in her twenties who is caring for triplets from Uganda and after living with them for a few years in the US went back to Uganda and is helping to run an orphanage for babies. What follows is her first newsletter and then a list of opportunities to help. I’d appreciate anyone forwarding this info. on to folks who might be able to help.

Annie and Moses

Annie and her girls

Newsletter February 2008
Hi Friends and Family, I often find myself wondering how someone is doing and wanting to send an email, but I’ve lost touch with so many of you that I didn’t know where to start. So in order to play catch-up, here’s an explanation of why I now call a messed-up East African country home.

I frequently get asked by visiting foreigners why I’m here and doing what I do. I find it difficult to answer, largely due to the fact that I never really ‘decided’ to do any of this. Rather, the last 5 years of my life has taken shape by just taking the next most logical step. I guess really that’s what happens to most people in their 20’s. They graduate with a degree in the field they studied, and so of course will look for a job in that area. They’re in love with a great person and so they marry them. They have a couple kids, so they get a bigger house and vehicle.

For me, the next most logical steps just took me on a road less traveled. I left college when I realized my get-me-through-college job was something I loved. Working with preemie multiples (twins, triplets, etc) gave me travel opportunities, freedom in my schedule, good income, and most of all was something I loved doing. A few years later, with good savings in the bank, a short jaunt to volunteer in an African orphanage seemed to make sense. When faced with dying twins who would only survive if I took them home with me, of course I did just that. When their medical and care added up to over $50,000 my only option was to keep them in the US while trying to pay it off. Four years later when they could no longer legally stay in the US, we got on a plane back to Africa. When bound to Africa by beurocracy and red tape, the logical thing was to accept one of the first jobs offered to me.

And that’s the short version of how I’ve ended up living in Uganda looking after 3 little girls and 83 abandoned infants. I’ve been here for well over a year now and most days I still wonder what the heck happened to my semi-normal life. While most days are ridiculously exhausting and frustrating, I’m thrilled to be on this ride. Boring it never is! I opened the orphanage for abandoned infants on Jan 15 and after getting 7 the first week, arrivals were slow and steady giving us about 30 babies by last summer. Must be something about 9 months after drunken Christmas parties, but the babies started pouring in August and haven’t stopped since. I reset the original capacity of 60 to 75, but recent newborn arrivals Katie, Daisy, Charlie, Jack, Anthony, Emmanuel, and twins Ethan and Ellie didn’t seem to care that we were full. My babies are left in third world hospitals or found in dumpsters, pit latrines, cemeteries, on the side of the road, and in buckets of water. They come in as 2 lb preemies, barely breathing newborns with untied umbilical cords, malnourished 8 month olds, and terrified 18 month twins. They struggle with cerebral palsy, hydrocephaly, club feet, burns, hernias, and broken bones. A rare one is healthy and happy and we wonder what caused someone to abandon an obviously well looked after baby. Sometimes babies come to us when it is too late and while we do everything we can, they don’t make it. Others succumb to third world diseases with third world medical care. Our local drive through coffin shop has had our business more than I’d like. However, when they are faced with life as an African orphan with AIDS, I’m sometimes happy to see an early end to their struggle and take comfort in the fact that they died warm, fed, clean, and very much loved.

Anyway, I’ll probably be sending random updates now that I’ve given a little background to my crazy life. Let me know if you have no clue who I am, or don’t want to receive emails for any reason and I’ll remove you from my list. Thanks so much to those of you who have supported me with emails, prayers, and financial support and I’m so sorry I rarely have the time to tell you what a difference it makes! Better close now, just got a phone call that newborn baby 84 is waiting to be picked up. The fun never ends.

Annie

Preemie Baby Daisy

Ok so my last email was the story behind why I’m here. Now comes the
reality…

Reality is that I now have 88 infants I’m responsible for.
Reality is that at least 6 of those should be admitted in a neonatal or pediatric ICU.
Reality is that we have a staff of 70ish that come with more problems than the babies and have to be handled like 5 year olds.
Reality is that two of my babies just had surgery and both came home with double casts on their legs.
Reality is that my car is in the shop and I’m walking everywhere.
Reality is that there was a baby snake in the laundry and I’m wondering where the mother is.
Reality is that I wonder daily if there is any hope for these people.
Reality is that we do 372 laundry loads, 12,648 bottle feeds, and 16,368 diaper changes per month Reality is that both my laptops have crashed.
Reality is that I’ve been asked by the government and the organization I work for to open two more baby orphanages.
Reality is that I’m really tired, really stressed, and really overwhelmed.

I lost a little friend this morning. He was born one month and 7 days ago, a preemie. His mother is dying of HIV and is admitted in the hospital. He was fed only when she was strong enough and felt like feeding him, about once every 24 hours. We found this out after about two weeks when he had lost almost half of his body weight. When we could spare a nanny or when my friend Nicola or I had the time, we would go and feed him. He never had any diapers and would be laying in a filthy stinky incubator. He LOVED a bath and lotion massage and being wrapped in clean blankets and clothes. His incubator didn’t work and his body temp was usually 32C (88F) so we would fill gloves with warm water and lay them next to him. He had meningitis that required once daily IV drugs. The nurses would only give him this every 2-3 days when we put pressure on them. He was so stiff from the meningitis and so skinny from starvation that he developed bedsores on his hips. The doctors notes yesterday said ‘Baby looks stable. PLEASE GIVE THE IV DRUGS’. Last night I meant to go check on him, but was too tired. I arrived at the hospital to bathe and feed him this morning, 1 hour after his body was moved from his incubator to ‘the bucket’. His death certificate said he died from meningitis. It should have said he died from lack of drugs, warmth, food, and love. He didn’t have a name.

Reality is I feel guilty.

Annie

Annie’s Little Friend

Annie’s List of Ways You Can Help….

1) You can send a one time financial donation to the babies home. This is best sent to Watoto’s office in the country you live in. I have a list of needed items/projects that are outside of what sponsorship covers or are items that cannot be purchased in Uganda. This is currently being updated, but I can send it through if anyone is interested as soon as I’m finished. Then you can pick an item off the list or if you tell me a dollar amount, I can tell you our biggest need at the time. People tend to like this option because they know exactly what their money went to. If you do this, please let me know, so I can be in touch with the country office to tell them whether to send the money (if it is an item that can be bought here) or to keep it at their office if it is an item I need to purchase there and have sent.
2) You can sponsor the babies home at http://www.watoto.com/ and send support monthly.
3) You can send a physical donation to the babies home. I also have a list of physical items we use and need here that you can purchase and send, or send if you already have them. If you contact the local office for your country (http://www.watoto.com/) they can tell you an address of someone coming over here in the near future and you can ship them items, rather than shipping them to Uganda (expensive and unreliable).

4) You can support me and my girls. I am employed by Watoto to direct the babies home which means I receive a fair local salary. Initially this was sufficient to cover our very basic needs, however I couldn’t afford to send the girls to school or hire a quality teacher/nanny, let alone any extra activities, car repairs, etc. Thanks to a corrupt new tax law put in place in September, I now loose over half my salary to this lovely government. This means that I’m actually going into more and more debt every month I stay and am having to reconsider my future here. We are moving into a cheaper flat and cutting corners where we can, but still struggling. So I could pretty desperately use any help in this area. This can be sent to my parents at:
Annie Duguid
6416 Latta Springs Circle
Huntersville NC 28078

5) You can send an ‘anything’ donation to my parents at the above address and I can designate it where appropriate. I’m surrounded by great and genuine need. Often I encounter a situation that doesn’t fit our organization and have really appreciated having a bit on hand to help out. For example, I’ll be told that there are preemie triplets in the hospital, but they have a mother who wants them, so we can’t take them. However this mother will have been abandoned by the husband/boyfriend and will have no money for food, which means she has no breast milk to feed her babies. I’ll buy her some meals in the hospital, so she can feed her babies and take them back to the village.
I used to and still do, REALLY struggle with asking for financial help. Growing up, I often heard missionary types asking for money and thought ‘They are off doing the fun stuff and they want us to work our boring jobs and support them???’ However, I’ve learned a couple important things in the last couple years.
1)Most of it is NOT fun stuff.
2)Even the stuff I find enjoyable, most other people don’t. I’ve finally realized that there are people who want to help, but actually don’t want to be stuck in Africa. If you are one of those, I’m happy to be the hands doing the work if you want to be the fuel behind them!

Thanks so much…!!

Tough Love.  That can be a very hard concept to actually practice.  All of our adopted children have some degree of attachment issues.  Even after three years, we still battle some of the same things.  One of our children has a very destructive mode.  He is doing better…much better, but we continue to deal with it.  With this child, discipline by consequence has been the most effective.  Recently we discovered that our son had started destroying his bed.  This started a few months ago.  The headboard on his brand new bed has gashes in it.  I wasn’t really sure how he was doing it.  At first he said he wasn’t doing it.  So then the questions begin.  “This is your room.  You are the only one in this room.  How else would this happen?”  After a 20 minute conversation of going around and around in circles, he told me that he did it by biting it.  I asked him why he was biting it.  He replied that he was sharpening his teeth.  I informed him that he wasn’t like a beaver.  His teeth didn’t need to be sharpened and that he would ruin his teeth.  “Oh,” was his reply.  We discussed why it was important to take care of the things that God has blessed us with.  He assured me that it wouldn’t happen again.

Well, I guess I needed to be more specific on how it wasn’t to happen again.  The deep gashes in the bed are now wider.  In our prior discussion we had discussed that if destroying his bed continued, he would lose the right to sleep on his bed.  So last night, my precious son received the consequences of his behavior.  He got to sleep on the floor.  He was not happy.  But I was not happy about the damage to the bed.  For his mind, consequences to actions works best.  So a couple of days on the floor is the “reward” for damaging the bed.

Just as we were practicing tough love with our son, God practices tough love with us.  Hebrews 12 talks about how God disciplines His sons.  “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”  Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons.  For what son is not disciplined by his father?  If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.  Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it.  How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!  Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.  No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.  (versus 5-11)

Love is God’s reason for discipline.  He loves us.  Each us us.  Discipline is a part of our training process.  He accepts us as his sons and daughters.  A father who does not discipline his child will be made a fool of.  The book of Proverbs speaks over and over again about how children should be disciplined.  The book of Hebrews is speaking of why God disciplines us.  God wants us to be disciplined sons and daughters.  He wants us to learn and grow.  Sometimes that means that God has to practice tough love on us.  We must be willing to accept the consequences of our actions.  If we ignore the discipline, then God will come down harder on us.

Isaiah 64:8 states Yet, O Lord, you are our Father.  We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.  I love that!  God is constantly shaping us and molding us.  Some of that molding and shaping comes in the form of discipline.  God loves us.  He is our Daddy.  And He wouldn’t be much of a Daddy if He didn’t correct us when we are wrong.  Sometimes it is hard to accept the discipline.  Sometimes it can make us have a hard heart towards God.  But God will continue to form us.  He doesn’t give up on us.  Why?  Because He loves us.  And He doesn’t just love us, but He delights in each and everyone us that He calls daughters and sons.

Zephaniah 3:17 The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.   I so love that!  Just as an earthly daddy will dote over his daughter, God wants to dote on each one of us.

Being a parent is tough business.  But God gives us the guidelines in His word.  After all, He is the greatest parent to learn from!

Lord, thank You for Your Word.  Your holy, precious Word.  Thank you for being my Daddy and loving me so much that You continue to shape me and mold me each day.  I know that I will never be the perfect child, but You are patient with me and give me the guidance that I need.  Sometimes it is a stronger hand of guidance when I am not in Your favor.  But through it all, I know that You look down upon me and delight in the person that I am becoming.  Thank you, Daddy.  Thank you for creating me and loving me for the person that I am becoming.

Ever since Daddy Dave called me on the phone to share with me about how organized chaos is a good learning environment for children, I’ve realized how true this statement is! I love it! I wanted to share some of our “organized chaos” that went on today. Enjoy!

Organized Chaos Part 1 and Organized Chaos Part 2 (this video is side ways. I couldn’t figure out how to rotate it around…just turn your computer sideways!)

Wish I had better lighting during our “jam” session.  I’ll do better next time!

We have lots of photographs taped to our fridge.  Friends, Family.  Whoever sends us a picture it ends up on the fridge.  It acts as my prayer wall.  I can walk in front of the fridge, pick a picture and pray.  It is great.  Well, I was looking at our pictures and I had two different shots of all four of our Liberian boys.  The first picture was taken by a family that went to Liberia delivering letters to our boys.  They had no idea who we were.  They just knew they had a family in the US.

This next picture was taken by Russell:

Do you see the difference?  The boys were so happy to finally meet their American Daddy!  The kids at the orphanage see many families come and go.  Each time they hope.  They hope that one day they will have a family, too.  Russell has pictures of when they pulled into the orphanage.  The boys were racing to the ACFI vehicle.  They knew that this was the big day.  It was finally their turn to meet their family!  Do you see the change in their faces.  The joy!  It just tickles my heart to compare these two pictures!

With all of that said, you know that our Daniel is still in Liberia.  All Liberian adoptions are currently on hold.  We are not sure for how long.  The Ministry of Health is trying to reorganize their adoption procedures and requirements.  Adoptions are not going to cease, they are just on hold.  The US Embassy is still issuing visas and families are still picking up their children.  Daniel’s adoption had not gone to court yet, so it is kind of in limbo.  Please pray that all the issues with the Ministry of Health will be resolved quickly so that we can move forward with getting Daniel home!  He is having a very hard time and does not understand when we tell him we have to wait on paper work!

I also posted these pictures because I wanted you to see the joy on their faces.  I wanted you to understand how much joy a family can bring to an orphaned child.  I have many letters that are addressed to “any mom and dad.”  If God has pressed adoption on your heart and you are interested in receiving one of these letters, please email me with your name and address.  I will send you one of these letters so that you may pray over it.  Pray for the children.  Intervene for them.  If you decide that you want to adopt, please know that this is a life time commitment.  Adopted children have been through so much hurt and pain.  They come with baggage.  But healing through our Lord, Jesus Christ is possible.  If you go into adoption, educate yourself.  Speak to other adoptive families.  Be prepared.  Adoption is a beautiful thing, but it is also very challenging.

I hope you have enjoyed viewing the joy that comes along with meeting your children for the first time!

Ok.  I couldn’t resist.  If you are easily grossed out, you probably don’t want to view the below picture or even read the description!

“What is this lovely concoction?” you may ask.  Well, it is spaghetti-o’s and sardines!  Yum! Yum!  Actually, I didn’t try it.  I was trying too hard not to vomit from the thought of that settling in my stomach!  My Liberian boys really enjoyed their new discovery.  Samuel looked up at me and said, “Sardine soup, Mom!”

They were a little too eager for their pictures to be taken with their new recipe!  Thank goodness we went through all twelve cans of spaghetti-o’s today at lunch!

Bon Appetite!