HE IS VICTORIOUS!!!

PRAISE GOD WITH US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE ARE REJOICING BECAUSE GOD HAS DONE IT!!!!

GOD HAS OPENED THE DOOR FOR OUR KIDS!!!!

We met with Alma yesterday morning...and by a miracle of GOD..Alma did not ask to interview the birth mothers!!!!!!!! Just so you all know, this is seriously a miracle of GOD!! I prayed and prayed that GOD could move in mighty ways and grant us visa's!! But NEVER did I think she would grant us visa's without interviewing the birth moms!!!!!!!!! She said she would have the visa's ready by Friday for us!!!! I was in so much shock...I just drove home blown away by all that was happening. Then I came home to the guest house and tears started flowing!!! This time TEARS OF JOY!!!! The guest house workers were concerned when they saw me crying...so I had to explain to them "they are tears of joy!!!" and they were all excited with me!!! I called my sister and the celebrations began!!!! I still feel like it is surreal. I cannot believe after this long, hard and trying journey....we WILL have our kids!!! God is Faithful!!! He is victorious!!

I am going to wait until we have the visas on Friday before I go pick up the kids and bring them to the guest house. I'm probably being a little over cautious, but I'd rather do it this way and be certain there are no other random glitches. If all goes well, (still praying for Friday)...We hope to fly home next Wed.!!

THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!
for all your prayers!! We are blessed to have such prayer warriors like you all fighting with us!!
God has moved, He has done the impossible, He is faithful!!
For the rest of our days we will share our (and your story too) story of God's faithfulness!!! Thank you for being such a huge part of this all!! He has heard our prayers!!

We love you all!!! We'll update soon!!!
Katie and Jeff

One Week in Liberia!

TUESDAY OCT 23

Today is the day we start rolling on our paperwork. First we need to get back all the old info and then we can begin to re-do the necessary documents. So... this week will be the week to get that accomplished. As you can imagine...it is always hard to get things done in Africa so please pray for favor for the office staff at AOH. And of course, THANK YOU for your continued prayers and comments on the blog!! I read them over and over. WOW!!!! I am being lifted up by them! It is such a blessing to be surrounded with friends who are in LOVE with Jesus and seek our Father for His will!! He has been with me, strengthening me, sustaining me, and helping me gain His character through the trials. It is quite difficult to be in the unknown and at the same time trying to prepare and anticipate the kids actually being ours and coming home! I will probably not meet the kids until next week because I want to make sure the paperwork is turning out successful and we feel confident Alma will approve us. It is amazing how God gives you what you need for where you are at. He truly does meet all our needs. He is meeting needs I did not even know I had...since I have never been in this situation before. Please continue to pray, because we still do not know if we will receive visas after we submit the new paperwork. God truly is going to have to move mountains!! We release it to Him because he knows what the future holds for us and for Fatu and Osobie. What a time of complete surrender and learning a whole new level of trust in our Father. I continue to speak out loud to myself..YOUR WILL LORD. That is it. We have to rest in Him and in his character. He is all I have. He is my everything.

I love it here!! I love AFRICA, what can I say. I have been trying to see what the differences are between East and West, since we've only spent time in East Africa. I guess there are a few that I have seen so far..the people are shorter and smaller, the hand shakes end with a "Snap", food a little different in flavor..they like it spicy!!! We went to the beach...what a beautiful sight! Immediate peace fell over me as we sat in the sand and swam in the ocean. I could have sat for hours listening to the roar of the waves. I am beginning to understand Liberian English a little, but it is hard to catch. I'm sure as the days roll on, I will catch it more and more. I hope to learn to "plait" today. The nannies rock at braiding hair and hopefully they can teach me!! (I don't think they know what a challenge that will be :))

Also, if you guys could continue to pray for Jeff while he is in Uganda. He has been going non-stop since he landed in Entebbe and has caught a cold. He is not feeling well so he could use your prayers as he has 4 days of village/field work ahead. He will be home in the states by Nov. 29th!! I miss my hubby so much!! We chat a little but it is quite difficult because he is in the bush so much of the time.

News from Liberia!!!

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile...I have not had much news to share. Thank you for praying for me!!! I have felt all your prayers!!!
Just a quick update...I met with Alma and she has allowed us to redo our paperwork!!

YEAH!!

This is good news but we still have much work to do and continue to need prayer so that there are no other glitches in our process. I am happy but still reserved.

Liberia is great!! I miss Africa and love being back, even though this is the West side instead of the East. Jeff is in Uganda and sounds like he is doing a lot of work and enjoying it.

Please continue to pray for me, Jeff, and Osobie and Fatu!!! Until they are home...I continue to cry out to God to move!!

Love ya all!!!

Katie

THE SCOOP!!

Well, today was the day we were waiting for, well in one way at least. I had to take Jeff to the airport for his 6 week work trip to Uganda. Ugh… I miss him already! This will be the longest I have ever been away from him in 5 years. So, a sad day for us in saying goodbye to each other…but, also the day we’ve been waiting for, for some good news!!

I’ll spare all the details, but it started when Jeff met our children’s family in Liberia 3 weeks ago. We have been waiting to work on our case for the last 2 weeks because we were waiting to find out the truth. It turns out our kids have birth moms. We just received the DNA results that confirm both Sobie and Fatu’s birth mothers. Originally the grandfather of our children had stated that Fatu and Sobies’ parents were deceased. We believe he held to this story because he thought the kids would not be able to be adopted unless they were “true orphans”. Regardless of all that has gone wrong in our case, we feel like we have a glimmer of hope with this news!! Now that we know the truth about our case, we can move forward. I will be flying out to Liberia on Tuesday to help AOH figure out our case. We need to pray that Alma’s heart is softened so we can bring our kids home!!! We have received so many emails and phone calls asking if there is anything people can do to help us fight for our kids! There is one thing!!!

PRAYER!!
We need God to move in HUGE ways on behalf of Sobie and Fatu!
We have had continued confirmation from the Lord that these are and will be our kids, we just need to continue to seek him and believe & trust that only He can do this!!
Thank you for fighting with us! Thank you for praying for us and with us!!

(The other day my bible reading plan included two wonderful stories that encouraged me. The first was Esther, and the second, the parable of the persistent widow. ‘Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and never give up’. Luke 18:1)

It’s been such a long, painful, hard and frustrating journey but God has used every minute, every detail, and every situation to teach us more about Him. The last 3 weeks have been some of the worst… and some of the best. I spent days in tears, days crying out to God, days sitting outside talking…yeah right, more like yelling to God trying to understand and accept what was going on. I’ve had to let go of all my wants, all my anger, all my desires, all my “rights’, all my bitterness, all my fears, all my ideas and plans. And the most wonderful thing happened; God gave me (us) more of His heart, more of His desires, His perspective, His kingdom, His truth, and His promises. It’s crazy because my heart has been hurting for weeks and we never would have wanted this emotional roller coaster, but God has used this time to transform us inside and out. It has changed us forever.

THANK YOU…thank you…we cannot say it enough!! We covet your prayers!!

Until Fatu and Osobie are home, we will be on our knees!!

Seasons Change

The leaves are turning and falling to the ground. The air is brisk, the evenings getting chillier and summer is long gone. Fall is a beautiful season and a pleasant change but saying good by to summer is also a reminder that we have gone through another season without our children home with us.

There are good days and then there are the bad ones. The change of season has brought with it grief. No, we have not lost our kids...yes; we are still fighting for them. But, I find myself grieving their absence. They should have been home by now. I was supposed to be a full time mom right now, making play dates, learning Liberian English, going to the doctors to see what fun things they brought home with them. But instead, I am putting away the unused summer toys. I had dreams and visions of Fatu, Osobie, my niece Mackenna and Kojo Lorenzen running amuck in our backyard playing in the toy kitchen, driving the kid cars and making memories. It’s so hard to put away all the summer clothes we’ve bought and collected. Even harder to walk past their bedroom staring in, hoping and praying for the day they will rest their heads on their beds. I miss my kids! I want them home! I want to be their mom! These are the aches of my heart.

Especially after seeing pictures like these!!!

In the midst of this God has brought his comfort and continues to give us His hope. We would not be where we are if He were not our strength, our hope and our future. I have to lean on Him during these hard days of waiting in the unknown. We have met with our lawyer and we are still waiting on more information about our case which we will share once it’s all figured out. So, we continue to pray, to seek God’s heart, to pray for Fatu and Osobie, for the U.S. consulate, for the other adoptive families, for Liberia, and for strength to get through each day.

Thank you to all of you who are waiting and praying with us and blessing us financially as we face more expenses than were expected! We love ya all and are blessed by your friendships!! We want to keep you all updated as much as we can but for now we need to wait for more info. Thank you for continuing to pray for us during this time! We are still in this, holding onto God’s promises and hope! We continue to need God’s wisdom, power, direction, favor, protection, comfort, strength and presence!

Until Osobie and Fatu are home, we will be on our knees!!!