Pics of US and OUR BABIES!!!!

The first time we saw the babies! I ran in to see Onah and he screamed cause he was afaid. They don't see white people that often ;)



daddy holding his little girl for the first time! She didn't cry as much :)


mommy's angel! What a sweetie! She's a snuggler!


Onah and his daddy.



We got to feed the babies for the first time :) We put them to bed later too!




Glad to be holding our babies!


sleeping beauty!



This is Theo, a boy at the orphanage who just loves Marie to pieces! He wanted his picture with her ;)

Gone!

This will be my last post before I leave for Liberia!!! We will be "Gone" in two days!!! I'm so excited to get to hold my little ones and can't wait to smother them in kisses :) I took my first malaria pill today, we'll see what kind of side effects I have with those. Hopefully none!
There is no new news on the adoption stuff other than, pray for that miracle! The government has not come to any decisions yet. I do know that there is a woman over there right now bringing her child home from the AFAA house though! He has CP and has been needing to come home for almost 2 years now and they finally released him. His mother says he needs medical treatment soon! So praise God they allowed her to come and get him :)
I must admitt, I've been lacking in the faith area these last few days. With the trip getting closer the odds point to no babies coming home, but deep down I still know how powerful God is. I guess I'm just afraid of the answer. I cry out to Him, literally, every day, but I know that sometimes the answer is no. I don't want to put my heart out there in faith and get crushed. I don't want the pain that comes with a no. Complete faith is not doubting and when it comes down to it, I don't have it. We had to memorize the scripture, "If he asks he should believe and not doubt. He who doubts is a like a wave in the sea thrown and tossed by the wind. He should think he would not receive anything from the Lord. He is a double minded man unstable in all he does." I want to believe and not doubt but it's SO HARD!

Something you can be praying specifically for:
While in Liberia we are meeting with a woman named Eva Morgan. She is second in line ot the president when it comes to making decisions on adoptions. We are to meet with her to share with her what a family goes through and what the adoption process is like in America. Basically to make her aware that not just anyone can adopt, there is a process to "check people out". We will be sharing with her our experiences and sharing with her about AFFA, our agency. Who knows, maybe something she sees in us or something we share will prompt her to allowing us to let our babies come home.
We asked Cheryl what we would need to finalize it all there. She didn't respond for the longest time and after prompting her over and over she said (paraphrased), "It's not going to happen, but just in case, _______, ______, and this much money. That was an open door for Matt :) So we are going prepared with winter clothes, leaving the car seats at my parents, stuff we need to finalize it, and a contact person here in the states in case we need to have $ for a couple extra seats on the plane. So please be praying for our meeting with Eva Morgan. I believe we will meet with her on Friday while we are there. I don't know what day that will be here in the states?
Thank you all for your love and support through all of this! I know I am prayed for and our babies are in good hands because of all your prayers! Can't wait to share with all of you when I get back! I love and will miss the contact with all of you while gone.
LOVE YOU ALL!

PRAY!

On Friday we received more updates that I thought I would pass along to all of you. I will try and keep you all posted when I find out more! We are trusting in God and we continue in our Faith that He is in control, of all our children, not man.
Here is what our agency had to say on Friday afternoon. Be praying as the Liberian government will be meeting this next week concerning adoptions in their country. Please pray that decisions and changes will be made this week!!!
I was finally able to get through to Oretha a short time ago. What she has heard is:
* The adoption committee is supposed to be meeting with the President next week. * This does not automatically mean the President will issue an order about adoption next week - all we can do is hope and pray that she does and decisions/changes, etc., are very fair to families and children.
* The rumor in Liberia is that children already in agency foster homes will be allowed to have their adoptions completed and to leave Liberia.
* Future adoptions will be scrutinized much more carefully.
* The President reportedly wants international adoption to be the last possibility for Liberian children so it sounds like adoptions will be limited in the future.
As always, when I know more I will let families know.

We received another email from our agency stating that when they talked to Oretha, the "mother" in charge of the foster home in Liberia, Oretha had told them that she wanted us to take us to meet as many Liberian government officials as possible. I don't know what this means, or what we will be meeting with them about, but it's an opportunity to share with them our hearts, desires, and our God's love! So you can be praying for us to have the words to say to them all :)