Made it Through the Embassy Appointment

Thank God, We made it to the embassy...filled out about 4 million forms...didn't know what to put in most of the boxes on each form...fudged our way through it all and God willing we will have visa for all the kids tomorrow at 2PM. It was a long hour or so at the embassy with 6 kids and 4 guys packed into a very small room and the kids getting tired and bored, but once again Ryan was a champ and kept everyone as calm as possible.

So only a few more days and we'll be on our way home. Kids are napping now...by kids I mean Siete, Cinco and Ryan!! :)

Not too much else to report from here. We have been spending time in the hotel. The kids all play together. I think having Charles, Giftie and Fannie here has been a great help. They all get crazy and loud at times, but it gives them all people to play with. Hawa and the Stewarts kids play all the time so it seems fun for them.

God is so good to me for allowing me this opportunity, I just pray next time He'll allow Wife and I to do it together. Adoption is a God ordained WE thing, but this trip makes it feel like a ME Thing, so sorry for hogging all this stuff Wife, you can have the first week home with them :). But I don't question His plan for us and this trip. I haven't had as much time to spend in the Word as I wanted to being here, but He has full on shown Himself to me through these little people. It's amazing how, through all the bodily fluids and stresses, I immediately have a love for these little ones. I can't explain it except to say...that's how God loves each and every one of us. He shakes his head at us and says why oh why....but I still Love You.

No pictures this post...the internet here is so darn slow. And we keep losing power. It's like I'm living in Africa or something....

oh and will someone...Jon, Mike, Chuck...someone PLEASE check in on my beautiful wife. In one day I hear about a flood in the kitchen and a fire in the oven. I'd like to make it home, to a home and a family!!! :)

Love you Guys!
Love you God!

Wednesday

I am putting this up for Randy
---Wife

Just a quick post tonight. Today was out chill out day at the hotel, which went surprisingly well. No one really got too restless and we all played together, napped a little of the day away, ate some snacks and colored.

I did get to enjoy the wonderful experience of cleaning up vomit. Tres ate too many different snacks and ended up toss her snacks into the sink. It's like I can't avoid puke with my kids. Here and Uno should get along just great!! I had to transfer her tossed cookies from the sink to the toilet, because, well because of it's consistency. Ended up cutting a water bottle in half then scooping it out and moving it to where it belongs. Stomach's starting to hurt thinking about it!!!

Siete is still very congested. He is sneezing out HUGE boogie strings, which anyone who knows me knows, I can't handle boogies. give me the puke, but the boogies and *shivers.
Tomorrow is out trip to the embassy. Pray for a smooth process. Some stories are good and others are bad about the lady we need to deal with, so I pray this all goes smoothly and we get the visa on Friday morning. I'd rather not spend more time here.
Love you Guys!
Love you God!!

Just another Tuesday in Liberia

PICTURE REMOVED

We went to the Greater Love Children's Home today. We took tons of pictures and handed out gifts to the kids. It was a mad house!!! It was fun to be able to give to the to-be adopted kids the packages their new families sent for them. The older kids seemed to "get it" but the little guys and girls had no idea what I was about :) All the kids really like looking through the photo albums families send. It was tough leaving though, so many kids were crying, thinking that this was their turn to go home. One little girl kept hugging my leg. I also felt bad for Tres (our little 6 year old girl). She was crying a lot before we left and she was really clingy to Ryan and I when we were at the Children's Home. I'm not too sure bringing them back there is a smart idea, but it seems like that is the customary thing to do.

Pastor Wesley has done some great work at the orphanage. There is a cement wall that now surrounds the facility and an additional class room was built. BUT, more importantly is the new well on the property that a previous adoptive family raised the money to have drilled. Now, instead of walking 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile to get water, they can just go right outside. Thank God for that!

Tomorrow will be a hang out day at the hotel, Which really means, scramble to come up with ways to keep the kids entertained :) Glad I brought Ryan. Hopefully the DVD's I brought and music and toys will keep them entertained. So far the kids have been pretty good. Kevin and I keep our doors open for most of the time we are here, so the kids run around from room to room and play together. I'm glad Kevin is here adopting his 3 cute kiddos. It's helped having another person to talk to, but even more so it's helped the kids (mostly Tres) have fun playing with her friends.

As far as these kiddos go...I'll tell you what, it is EASY to fall in love with Tres. She absolutely precious. She acts like a 6 year old and has a little bit of a selfish side (to be expected) but she is so mild mannered you can accept it and still want to give her a hug. She accepts a short "Don't do that" and moves on, usually with a smile. Only time she won't respond to me is when she is sad, which has only been 2 or 3 times so far. Siete is just a cool little dude. He is sick I think but he just hangs out and rarely makes a noise. He is however in that I want to reach out and touch everything in and out of my reach and whine if I can't have it stage. Also playing the drop my toy and daddy will pick up game....I love that game...he usually wins. Cinco...I'm still confused about. I'm not sure if he is just really good at playing the whining game or he really is THAT whiney :)He can be and is very adorable but he is absolutely stubborn. If he can't have his way...then he'll just whine and cry and still try to do what he wants. Oh and the kid can eat!!! Unfortunately the by-product of that is: 5 trips to the potty and all I can say is it the most unHOLY of experiences.

FYI: I didn't proof read this, so I apologize for any misspellings or weird looking sentences!!!

Thanks for all the notes guys....We love it and can't wait to be back home.

HE Is our Solid Rock!