blogger mom

I was fifteen years old the first time I came face to face with the truth that the world was a lot bigger than my small, comfortable, weathly suburb. I was on a mission trip to Mexico with my youth group. I played with children who lived in card board homes and then I went back with my youth group to a nice hotel with a restaurant and swimming pool. I came home sad and frustrated. Sad because I couldn't get the image of the card board houses filled with smiling children out of my mind, and frustrated because I had no idea how I could ever make a difference in this world.

This morning I called Riley to the computer. His little brothers were busy playing, so I thought it would be a good time to show Riley a bit of the rest of the world. We sat together and looked at pictures of Liberia and pictures of children waiting for a home at the Acres of Hope orphanage. Half way through the slide show I saw tears on Riley's cheeks. He said, "I'm crying because they don't have a family." A smile slowly spread across his face as he then realized that this was why we have made such a huge decision for our family. He said, "But, maybe one of them will be our sister and then she'll have a family." He's only six, but I hope he's learning that the world is a lot bigger than his little world.

So, most of you who read this journal already know that our family has decided to move forward with the adoption of a little girl(s) from Liberia. I can assure you that this decision has been made after a serious amount of prayer. God has confirmed in many ways over the last month that this is the next step He has for us as a family. There are times when we wonder how we will ever be able to navigate through this very complicated process, how we will ever be able to raise the money we need to adopt these children, how we will ever be able to keep up with possibly five children!! But, we know that we have been told to move forward and we want to obey. Why Liberia? Because there is a huge need and God has commanded us to care for the widows and orphans. We know that there is room in our hearts for more childen. We know that this adoption is just a drop in a very large bucket of need in Africa, but it is what we can do.

How can you help? Pray with us as we begin this journey. Pray for our girls, even though we don't know who they are yet. Pray they will be safe and healthy while we do what we can on our end to adopt them as quickly as possible. Pray for our boys as they adjust with us to the change that is coming. Pray that God provides the finances we need (approximately $20,000) to bring our girls home. We will be fund raising, applying for grants, and saving our pennies (literally!). Our hope and prayer is that all of you will be part of this process with us, that when we finally arrive back in Ohio with our child or children (approximately 9-12 months from now) that you will feel as though they are your children as well. So many of you already have that kind of relationship with our boys and we are so thankful you are part of their lives. We can't wait for you to meet these girls with us. Please give us your ideas to help us come up with the money we need. I'll be talking with our agency about ideas as well. It is humbling to think that we will need to ask for help to finance this adoption, but this money is what is needed to give these children a family and quite possibly to save their lives.

We have much to learn about Liberia. We have much to learn about international adoption. We have much to learn about becoming a multi-racial family. We will be posting information about what we are learning and where we are in this process on our adoption blog. Please check it out at www.journeytoliberia.blogspot.com