A Visit to Gracie's Biological family

Hello Everyone,
We have survived 6 long, HOT days in Liberia!! We are starting to get homesick but are still enjoying the Liberian people. They are incredible servants and we love to here their individual stories. Yesterday was a rude awakening for us. We visited a refugee camp where thousands of Liberians fled during the war. The purpose of the visit was to meet some of the adopted children’s birth families. Their villages were destroyed during the war so they can’t return to what they call home. Therefore they are living in poverty with no electricity or running water. Most of the “houses” were made out of old, oil cans, which is pretty resourceful, we thought. As we walked around, we were approached several times by mothers wanting us to take their babies with us. They were so desperate they thought the only way for their little children to survive would be to give them to total strangers who would take them to America. It broke our hearts every time we had to say, “No we can’t.”

Just outside of that camp, we visited Gracie’s biological family. This was difficult because we found out after we left, that her mom has malaria. She was sick and did not respond to us. She didn’t say a word. Gracie had fallen asleep upon our arrival. So when we first got there her mom took her from me and held her for a minute (long enough for us to get a picture) and gave her back to me. Her grandmother was there also, and was a little more responsive. Although we didn’t communicate much, before we left, we hugged them and to our surprise, Zenah (Gracie’s birth mom), hugged me back and gave a small smile. We felt that was her way of saying, “I know you are going to take care of her.” Sad to say malaria will probably take her life, because she is not seeking medical attention.

It is amazing how God continues to show us His will for Gracie’s life. We are so thankful to have received such an amazing, priceless gift. She is such a joy to be around! Don’t worry you will get to experience her very soon! We can’t wait to show her off! We love her more than we could’ve imagined!
Hopefully you will be able to enjoy some pictures. Thanks for praying, we definitely feel covered. Please continue, as there is sickness going around some of the families we are here with.

We love and miss you!
Rob, Kim, and Gracie

Happy Birthday Gracie

Hello All,

We are sorry we haven’t e-mailed earlier. Our Internet has been up and down and I became the IT guy to fix it (not good for them). We arrived safely after only 26 hours of travel. Praise Jesus we had no problems with any flights or connections and everything went well. We got in to the guesthouse late around 9:45 Liberia time so we did not get the children the first night. Sister Maria said it would be best to have one more night of sleep before we got the children. We did get a tour of the new house, which we are staying in with 8 other families. It is really nice. They do have running water and AC in the evening so even though we prepared to rough it is really not that rough.
The second day around 7:45 sister Maria knocked on our door with the most beautiful little African girl I have ever seen (some pictures will follow). As we suspected at first she was not sure of us and what we were all about but Prasie Jesus he answers prayers and within a few hours she started to get comfortable with us and within 24 hours she was laughing lots and by day 3 it’s like she has always been our little girl. She is so beautiful and sweet. She loves to snuggle and bats her eyes to flirt I can tell she is mine because she likes to eat and has a strong will.
Overt the last 72 hours with her I have taken over 300 pics don’t worry I only attached 10. We can’t wait to share the rest of them with you soon. Please continue your prayers for the paperwork as we met our US consoler yesterday and he is not planning to meet with us until next week. Also please continue to pray that we can make an impact on these people they are so sweet and so giving we know that God is working here.
I am sorry I can’t write more now however I got the internet working and there are 8 families who want to send e-mails. We Love you all and we will try to write again soon. If you would e-mail this to the people that you know are praying for us that would be great.

Love,

Rob, Kim, Gracie

Leavin' on a jet plane !!!!!

Dear Friends and Family,
We leave for Liberia in a week!! It is hard to believe that we will have our little girl in our arms soon. We are so ready! It seems like we have been waiting forever, when in reality it has only been 9 months. How ironic!! We would appreciate it if you would continue to pray for us.

1. Smooth & Safe travel.
2. Tristen & Clay to do well while we are gone.
3. The Lord's favor- if He wants us to come home earlier than 14 days.
4. Gracie's health.
5. Rob & Kim's health while traveling.
6. That we would be able to serve and love on the people in Liberia.
7. A strong bond between Gracie and us.

We leave Knoxville on Sat. May 12th at 2:50 and go through Brussels and arrive in Liberia on May 13th. Yes that is Gracie's 1st birthday and Mother's day!! Unless the Lord has other plans we are supposed to come home on Monday night the 28th at 10:35.

We will try and e-mail from Liberia.
Thanks again for all of your support during this emotional process.
We love all of you!