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!!!

Thoughts from the mountains...

As I write this, Jeff and I are staying at our friends’ condo in the mountains!! What a blessing they have given us! Jeff found out on Monday that he would not start his new job until next week Monday, so he had a surprise week off! Our dear friends own this condo and offered us to stay as long as we wanted!! Thank you Jack and Lisa!! It’s gorgeous. The colors are in their peak! Reds, yellows, greens, browns…a beautiful display of fall. We needed to get away. Spend some uninterrupted, un-stressfull time with each other and God.

As far as our adoption, even though we were verbally denied our visas, we still have options. We have researched the appeal process, we have looked into other visa options, and we have looked into the option of moving overseas for 2 years with the kids. We are currently still investigating our case as we have received some new information we need to process. So, we will take the next week or so discussing our options with our immigration lawyer and deciding how to move forward. Our prayer is and always has been “Lord bring your truth” and “Lord, your will not ours”. We believe Fatu and Osobie are our kids. The Lord has made that very clear to us and we continue to stand firm in His promises and truth. THANK YOU for continuing with us! Thank you for your encouragement, your prayers, your reminders of God's truth...they are all going straight into my journal project..."BOOK OF HOPE" that I am compiling with God's promises and truths he's spoken to me over the last 10 years. We are blessed by your continued prayers for Fatu and Osobie!! Until they are home, we will be on our knees!

Okay…so, this next writing is a little long but I feel like I want to share what the Lord has been doing behind the scenes over the last 2 months. Looking back on the last 2 months, the Lord has been preparing us for what we would face here and now with our kids. As we wait for more news, I will continue to blog about what the Lord has been doing and saying, maybe to encourage us all. He knows the plans he has for us!!

I wrote this in mid-August 2007 :

Last night I couldn't sleep. I felt like I was supposed to share this so bear with me. Maybe this is just for one person…I don’t know….but here goes….
11:30 pm It seems like all of us, who have embarked on this journey of adoption and listening to God’s call on our lives, have found ourselves on a very rugged and tough road. (I know someone else blogged about this?) Well, I just wanted to share our story & God’s goodness in the pain, struggles and trials we have faced since we started our adoption process.

In November, we lost my brother-in-law tragically. He died of a pulmonary embolism. He was 33yrs. old, husband to my sister, and dad to a 1 1/2 yr. old daughter. I had just chatted with him 2 hours before he died. This was a complete tragedy that rocked our world b/c we were very close to my sis and Matt. Two weeks later, we received our referral for Osobie and Fatu!! Talk about a rough time. Amidst deep pain and sorrow- God brought life and joy. God’s true joy stepped into a very uneasy situation. As we continued this process- cars broke down, dog almost died, Jeff’s Dad had serious health issues, bills, house, problems, and much more met us on this path of adoption. Just this week another whammy!!! My husband was starting a new job. He was to start his new job on Monday, and today was to be his last day at his old job. On Tues of this week, we get a phone call from his new job stating he could not start work for another month! Total Freak out!!!!!!!! We cannot afford to miss 1 paycheck, let alone 2!! I only work part time and that is ending in 2 weeks! Just hours after the bad news we had planned to hang with our friends. As we walked out the door the wind blew on my face. It was dark out; a storm was rolling over head. And there in the sky was a brilliant rainbow, every color shining! I just stared at the rainbow and thought “God, now what?” “Here we are, and now what??” “How are we ever going to do this one?” and He said to me, “I promised you, I would never leave you nor forsake you”. I felt like God was telling me, “This is it Katie. This is what it is all about…..ME, your Heavenly Father, your good Dad, your God and Savior. Everything can and will pass away, but I remain. Jobs, house, friends, cars, stuff….that does not matter as much as this, our relationship. It may all be gone in a flash, but....I AM HERE, I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU”.

All night I was still in shock, scared, confused, and uneasy and wondering what would happen. The next day, a miracle took place, Jeff’s old boss said Jeff could stay and work a couple more weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Total answer to prayer!!!!!!!!! Thank you GOD!!! What a relief this time!!!
Unfortunately, many of the trials and hardships we have run into along this adoption path have not ended with such joy and relief!! Matt’s death still shakes us everyday, the bills still pile up, cars are still broken, house is still not fixed up…weird odd problems still arise, heart aches continue to happen…

BUT…

“NEVER WILL I LEAVE YOU; NEVER WILL I FORSAKE YOU. “-GOD

THE LORD IS MY HELPER; I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT CAN MAN DO TO ME?” Hebrews 13

“NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD” Romans 8

Okay, so I was suppose to blog this a month ago but I did not. It’s funny, a month ago, my biggest trials of faith were jobs, bills, and life stuff. Never did I think we would be in a place like this a month later. All the worries and cares I had are all put into perspective when faced with the possibility of losing our kids whom we have grown to love tremendously. Without us ever knowing it, God prepares us for what is to come in our lives. God was giving us opportunities to trust him and showing us again that He is faithful. Thanks God, for being our good Father. As we walk through this current hard situation of the unknown of adoption and the painful waiting, we will choose to remember He is good and He is faithful.

WE HAVE HOPE IN HIM

“I met them. I met our kids”. These were the first words Jeff spoke to me after we hugged and cried. Tears streamed so I asked him to hold off on telling me anymore because my eyes were blurred, it was dark, and I didn’t want to run us off the road. So it wasn’t until the next day, after he got some rest that we had our conversation.

I asked him…”Jeff, be totally honest with me. Tell me…Did you know they were our kids…you know, like in marriage, when you just KNOW that this person standing before you is your husband. (at least, this is what happened to me). Like when I just knew, or at least I really believed that you were to be my husband. ??? Jeff looks me in the eyes and says. “They are ours, Katie” “They are our kids”. He said, “It’s funny you used the marriage analogy, because as I was thinking about how I would tell people about our kids, I would tell them that I know like I knew Katie was my wife”.

Originally we both agreed it would best not to meet our kids, as to not confuse them. It turned out that Jeff went to the little kid orphanage at nap time and so they were groggy, confused and probably thought it was all a dream. Patty introduced Jeff as her medical friend, not as their father.

Then I proceeded to see the pictures he took. Wow…..They are sooo little in his arms. They are our kids. Jeff told me that as much as we thought they were ours before he went to Liberia; he said it is confirmed 100 times more now. He also said he needed to see for himself if our kids were as amazing as all of our friends, who have met them have told us.Jeff said they were even more amazing, sweet,and beautiful!!!! I am happy he met them. I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

*Here is some of Jeff’s random journal notes just thought I’d share a little, of course with his consent
Thursday

The embassy said no. I am desperate for options. Don’t even know what I can do for options. As far as I can tell they are orphans. They are definitely completely impoverished. They don’t want the kids. I can’t send them back to where they came from. Could I get a visitor visa? Keep them for 2 years? Live abroad for 2 years? Did I do everything I could have? I asked God to make a way. Is this the way?

I’m sitting here in a café. Need some hope now. I leave tomorrow; I can’t bear flying home with no hope. I will not give up this fight. What are our options? A guy just walked by holding a sign that said “Nothing can take God’s place”. Kids outside are washing the UN vehicle on their own without being asked, just to make some money. I can’t allow the picture in my mind to be Sobie and Fatu doing that. They wouldn’t even get this chance because the UN is not in their Toe Community. Whose car would they wash? The poor don’t have cars. The UN land rover looks good. My kids would have done a better job. But they’ll never get this chance if I can help it.
Final day in Liberia:
Exhausted, definitely numb. Feel like I failed, I know I did all that I could. Why????
I met our kids today. Patty introduced me as her medical friend Jeff. It was nap time at the orphanage so they were groggy and confused. I don’t know what they thought, they seemed tired and confused. Fatu was shy and Osobie was responsive to whatever I asked him. They smelled so sweet. They were so soft and they were very small—tiny actually. Fatu was almost as tall as Sobie. They were beautiful. They showed me where they slept. I didn’t want to let them go. They both sat on my lap and fit perfectly. They were beautiful. I am flying home as we speak. I miss them already. I feel depressed and miss my wife. I wish I was there, when I heard the news. I wish I was with Katie. She is taking it very hard. I have mixed feelings. I wanted to see the kids to assure myself that they were as beautiful as I thought. They are more beautiful. They were stunning and sweet and tender. I thought maybe I’d be on this flight with them, trying to figure out how to be a parent and loving it. I would have given anything to fly 30 hours with 2 crying kids with me. I am tired, I miss my wife, I want my kids. Of the 4 trips I’ve had to Africa, this is by far the worst. My days were full, late nights. The trip was a blur and what do I have to show for it? Couple stamps on my passport. That’s it. No kids!!!

We feel His presence. We feel His peace. He is our peace. We are surrounded by such a blanket of His love. We feel your prayers. We know you are praying because the Lord is here among us. You have faithfully lifted our family for many weeks now, when I know your lives are just as busy and just as hard. We never thought we’d be on this journey this long, nor did we think it would be his hard. We said it before and we continue to say that we want to be in His will, no matter what it looks like. The Lord has been speaking in so many ways to our hearts through this all. I hope to capture it all in the days and weeks to come. It’s all still in process and marked on tear stained journal pages. Even now…we have received phone calls and emails from people all over the U.S. There is a common theme.

Do not give up hope
This is not the end
Do not give up
This is not it
God can do the impossible!
God raised Lazarus from the dead!!
Galatians 6:9- And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
Hope, Hope, Hope,
GOD IS NOT DONE!!
This will bring GLORY to God!!

We are still sifting through paperwork and getting our bearings. We are planning on meeting with an immigration lawyer, writing letters to as many folks as we can, and are discussing our other options. For now we have to sit tight for a little bit while we figure out our case and how we will present it to the Senators and Congressmen. Once we have a plan, we would be so blessed, so grateful, so stoked if you all would join us in our fight! We will need each and every one of you to help us fight for our kids! You have journeyed with us, you have held us up, and you have fought for Osobie and Fatu already with us in prayer! We Thank You!!! We love you all! Your emails, your words, your love is a huge blessing...just huge…words cannot express.