We FINALLY Have 171 Approval!

The local USCIS officer called me last night (after I left an urgent message friday) letting me know he completed our I-171H and we could pick it up today. So it is official...We have it in Hand! It was submitted 6/21/07. For those not in the adoption world, that means we can proceed as far as the US is concerned. Next step is finalization on the Liberia side which should take 2-4 weeks if expidited, Liberian passport should be within that week and then pre-visa interview can be scheduled within a week or two. At that time they will give us the ok to make travel arrangements for 2 weeks out. So, Hopefully by Thanksgiving, the latest Christmas! Poor Mercy, with no meat on her bones she's going to be cold!

The Sisters Are Together!

Charlesetta Joy was moved into the nursery at Acres of Hope with a respiratory infection. So please pray.

Here are pictures of the girls first meeting! It's the first picture I have seen of Joy that she looked like it might not be so scary after all. And THAT truly brings JOY to my heart!









But I have to say Mercy is soooo skinny and almost makes Charlesetta Joy look plump! I can't wait to see how her face will fill out when we get some meat on those bones!

A little girl named Ruby, who is a little pistol, was brought home last June and looked much like Mercy only smaller. She is four and actually smaller than her twin two year old brother and sister. If you look at Ruby's before and after pictures you can see...there is hope!

New Link: Help Mercy and Joy!

We have sent the final adoption fees to Acres of Hope and are now living by faith!!! We set up a new site for donations and there are photos I received from Acres of Hope yesterday that are hard to look at but show the urgency of getting the girls home to the medical attention they so desperately need. (See top right link)
Thank you!

UPDATE: The photos disappeared from my blog and don't know if it was done by blogspots administration or if I messed up somehome. They were revealing and though everything was covered, Mercy was bare except for panties. I hope I did not offend anyone by showing them and debated wither to or not. Out of respect for Mercy (and possible blog violation) I will leave those out and I have put in a cropped one of her back to show how skinny she is.

Grace, Mercy and Joy!!!

It is with great excitement we announce the referrals of our two Liberian angels, Mercy and Charlesetta whom my little Skylar has named Joy. My daughter now wants to be called Grace (her middle name) and spelled it on her own today. (See photo) The other word is an animal she liked most. How can you argue with phonics?
We have learned much about Mercy as her medical condition is fragile. She will turn 13 next month and weighs only 47lbs. We accepted her referral today so she was moved into the guest house of Acres of Hope where she will get the watchful eye of the guest house host who is a nurse. She will be started on IV's and we are hoping we can stabilize her condition and get some nutrients in her. She is well aware of the fact she may not make it through the adoption process and wants to fight to stay alive as she wants to live "to tell others about Jesus!" She is on a feeding tube and has had one dilation. She is a caustic ingestion victim. The story she told was that in January of this year, some "mean" boys secretly poured out her water bottle, filled it with lye (a clear liquid), watched her drink it and ran off laughing. Patti (founder of Acres of Hope) gave her a copy of her book and she then told Patti later "Next to the Bible, it was the best book she had read!" Her mother lives out in the bush and she has been living with her uncle in Monrovia for medical treatment.

Charlesetta (Joy) too is a caustic ingestion victim and her accident occured in 2004 when she was 5 or 6. She will turn 8 on November 20th two weeks after our Grace turns 8 and we already call them "The Twins". She is 41.5" tall and weighs 29lbs. A little peanut! For contrast to Joy and Mercy, Grace is 55lbs and 50.5" tall. Her mother knows she will die there without proper treatment and that adoption is her only option and has to give her up to save her life.

It is very common for younger children to ingest lye. It is a bleach like liquid used for laundry/cleaning and usually stored in soda bottles (thus called caustic soda) and set outside due to it's fumes. Children come along in the 100+ heat think it is water and start drinking.

The Medical Options:
1. Slow, steady dilation's, once a week or so for the first 3-6 months, to gradually increase the size of the esophagus to get them to a point to be able to eat solid foods.
2. Esophageal replacement. A piece of the colon is used to replace the esophagus.

There are two schools of thought on replacement:
1. It should be the last resort as it is permanent and if it doesn't work, what do you do?
2. It should be done right away to avoid further scaring in the esophageal tract and also because there is a 300-400% higher chance of esophageal cancer due to the intense damage sustained.
UNM Hospital's Pediatric Surgery unit seems neutral and will begin assessment once they are both here and able to be seen where a plan of action can begin.

Joy is not as bad off as Mercy but still in urgent need of medical care and because of that, Acres of Hope is going to try to expedite both their paperwork. Best case scenario if all the processes go like clockwork (which it never does) we are looking at bringing them home the end of next month possibly early November. We are hoping no later than Christmas. Normally on non urgent cases, from the time of referral the process takes 4-7 months.

Our prayer requests:
1. Mercy would gain strength and weight and Joy will stay strong.
2. Pray that Mercy and Joy can begin to bond before we get there as they will now be sisters.
3. Paperwork to miraculously go like clockwork and parental relinquishment's would go smoothly as this has become the biggest issue with the American Embassy's new Consular who issues the American visa's.
4. For God to prepare Grace for the different world she is about to encounter and that she would feel loved and secure as we pour so much of our energy into these two angels as we get them healthy.
5. Since all this is happening relatively fast we are not as prepared financially. We know when God gives a vision, He makes the provision. We look forward to seeing how He will provide! We trust Him and know He has called us to adopt these two precious angels.

"For this child I prayed" 1 Samuel 1:27

Let the journey begin!!!

OUR 171 is HERE!!! I Think!

My social worker told me today that our local USCIS officer told her he did about 15 or so in the last few weeks but didn't tell her whose. However, her fax machine is broken so she doesn't know whose they are!!!! But she did say he usually does all the ones on his desk and our application and fingerprining have been in for 3 months and the homestudy was submitted over 6 weeks ago!

Prayer request: Donna at Acres of Hope told me about a 12 year old special needs girl on Saturday. I asked if she could get some more information as she knew very little. Yesterday during church I felt the Lord gave me the name "Mercy" for a child He was going to give us at some point. Donna called again last night to tell me some details on her. Her name is...you guessed it..."Mercy"! Is that the Lord! I will not go into too much detail as we have not officially accepted her referral. But I will say she is in imminent need of medical attention. She is actually 14 and weighs only 60lbs. My 7 year old weighs 55lbs and she's a bean pole! Another little girl we have been considering since May is two weeks younger than our daughter. They both turn 8 in November. She too has medical issues and are not sure if it would be too much to deal with both. But sometimes the Lord gives us situations and gives us the grace to rise to the occasion.

I love the story of Tony Campolo who was to speak at a church. As the pastor introduced him he also told of a need of a family who was about to lose their house due to the father losing his job and would Tony please pray for this family when he came up. Tony for a long time was silent as he looked out over the audience and finally shook his head... "No!" he said. "I'm sorry, but I will not pray for this family! I got fifty bucks in my pocket, how much do you have?" Sometimes I think we can over analyze/pray about something we already know God simply wants us to take action on.

I have calls into pediatric doctors and the specialists at UNM Hospital and part of me feels like I need to count the cost. And the other part of me feels guilty for not trusting the Lord to "do the next thing", to "step out in faith" and trust Him to give the strength to endure 2 medically needy children.

So I ask for your prayers for wisdom and the peace to pursue and that God would show us His will in all this. He knows the future, we don't. We trust Him.